A Brief Review of Climate-Smart Technologies in the Beef Sector: Potentials and Development Status

Livestock-focused climate-smart (CS) technologies aim to reduce emissions, increase productivity, and improve resilience to climate change. This study reviews CS practices and technologies for cattle production and discusses economic feasibility by exploring the likelihood of consumers’ acceptance of CS beef products and producers adopting these novel technologies on their farms. We identify four key CS technologies and practices cattle farms can adopt: CS farm management (grazing and manure management), methane-reducing feed additives, selective breeding, and genetic engineering. While all these technologies have the potential to reduce methane emissions, practices such as grazing management and using on-farm bio-digesters that do not seemingly alter the animal products are more likely to be accepted by consumers and producers than technologies such as genetic engineering. Although consumers’ willingness to pay for CS beef would be the biggest driver of the on-farm adoption of CS technologies, employing several other market and non-market approaches, such as carbon credits, labeling, tax rebates, subsidies, etc., could help more producers adopt CS technologies. Future studies should focus on understanding the determinants of CS technology adoption and consumer acceptance of CS meat/milk products.