Performance-enhancing technologies of beef production

Abstract

The Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that the global population will increase from the current 7 billion people to 9.5 billion by the year 2050 and will need 70% more meat, milk, and eggs (FAO, 2009). While the total and per capita consumption of poultry meat enjoyed the largest growth over the past decades, beef consumption also increased 18% (1990 to 2009). The livestock industry is therefore under pressure to invest in technologies that will increase efficiency, e.g., using fewer resources to produce more meat since competition for available land, water, food from plant origin, and energy intensifies due to the growing population. While technologies in the past mostly focused on improving productivity, e.g., growth rate, feed efficiency, and increased weight of the slaughter unit (Capper, 2011) at all cost (Figure 1), Capper and Hayes (2012) and other studies emphasized the importance of commitment to sustainability, consideration of environmental impact, and animal welfare to maintain the social license in a demand-driven market. When further considering that variability in palatability were the major reasons for decline in beef consumption in Australia and the USA during the 1980s and 1990s (Bindon and Jones, 2001; Howard et al., 2013), careless utilization of technologies that impact negatively on eating quality will influence the consumer’s attitude toward beef. Performance-enhancing technologies may include genetics, feed technologies and feeding strategies, growth-enhancing substances, and management strategies to mention some but not all. We focused on selected technologies that enhance performance, but at the same time, we also considered their relationships to sustainability, animal welfare, and product quality.