McDonald's Beef Sustainability Program

  The Challenge that McDonald's Faced                       

⇨ When it comes to McDonald’s, burgers 

always first pop up in people’s heads. For 

McDonald’s, as one of the largest purchasers of 

beef globally, beef plays an indispensable role. In 

the last ten years, there was a big challenge that 

haunted all the staff in McDonald in order to 

offer customers a flow of beef burgers with its 

best quality, which was how to increase animal 

welfare, improve farmer livelihoods, and ultimately make beef production eco-friendly.                            

                                                                                                                

  McDonald’s Beef Sustainability Program

       McDonald has no direct farms that raise cattle, so it must collaborate with farmers, ranchers and 

producers over the world to explore a better way to sustain beef production. Then, a program called 

“McDonald’s Beef Sustainability” came up.  In order to provide customers with a steady flow of beef 

burgers, McDonald’s Beef Sustainability Program mainly aims to:

⇒ 1.     Accelerate industry progress

·          Lead an industry-wide movement on beef sustainability

·          Follow the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) principles and criteria

⇒ 2.     Share knowledge and tools

·          Provide farmers and ranchers with tools to measure, benchmark, practice and demonstrate  

           their sustainability progress

·          Through Flagship Farmers Initiative, record the farmers and their creative solutions of 

           beef sustainability  (Want to know more information about Flagship Farmers Program, 

           click here https://www.flagshipfarmers.com/en/)

⇒ 3.     Pioneer new practices

·          Create a collaborative platform for farmers and ranchers to trial and practice new ways of 

           beef sustainability from Flagship Farmers Initiative

       In addition to the three goals above, McDonald’s Beef Sustainability Program also makes efforts 

to create a sustainable future for humans, specifically in:

       Economy:

·          Advance economically viable farming

Environment:

·          Preserve forests

·          Address climate change,

·          Reduce food and packaging waste

·          Protect water

       Society:

·          Respect human rights

·          Promote the health and welfare of animals

       2020 Vision: By the end of 2020, through McDonald’s Beef Sustainability Program, 10 countries 

(US, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, Canada, France, NZ, UK, Poland) will have more than 85% 

beef supply.  

        It can be seen that McDonald is paying a lot of attention on the environmental protection, 

particularly the focus on preserving forest, in the process of implementing beef sustainability 

program. McDonald’s slogan is “making us one of the first global restaurant brands to take a stand to 

confirm that forests are protected while beef is produced”. Moreover, McDonald signed a 

commitment that there was no way of sustaining beef supply in the condition of eliminating 

deforestation. 

   Why the Environmental Protection Is So Important in Beef Sustainability?  

        McGrath (2016), as a participant of the Canadian Beef Pilot, says, “It’s important to remember  

we’re borrowing from our children and grandchildren, rather than spending their inheritance, That’s a 

tremendous privilege and responsibility”.

       In other words, a bad beef production will destroy the balance of environmental system or even 

cause substantial environmental issues to humans. Human beings live by the environment and the 

majority of resources in the environment are nonrenewable. Thus, McDonald and its cooperators 

need to figure out an effect solution of beef production that provides our next generation with a better 

environment.  

        Clay (2017), Senior Vice President of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), presents that due to a rapid 

population increase in the next 40 years, the demand of beef will double. Therefore, beef must be 

produced through efficiently using the natural resources- land, water, etc. rather than making them 

use up. More specifically, Clay (2017) hopes that Beef Sustainability Program will engage every 

stakeholder across the beef supply chain to protect forests, other habitats, preserve clean water, and 

limit the emission of greenhouse gas and other negative influences on the environment. (More details 

about Clay’s deforestation-free, check the link: https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-

works/posts/the-future-of-beef-is-deforestation-free)   

       Through the interviews above, we can know that although different stakeholders of Beef 

Sustainability Program standing in different position, they all realize the significance of protecting the 

environment. I think that no one customer is willing to purchase beef containing unrecognizable 

substances or being contaminated. Rather than focusing all on the promise of beef production 

volumes, McDonald and its stakeholders are on the right track that increases the awareness of protect 

environment. 

  The Milestone of McDonald’s Beef Sustainability Program So Far

☺ 2012:

•             Begin to establish GRSB through the cooperation among McDonald’s, WWF, Cargill  

              and JBS (beef suppliers) and many others in the beef industry

☺2014:

•             Create GRSB principles and criteria that are in a socially responsible, environmentally 

              sound and economically viable way  

•             Set first external commitment to support beef sustainability

•             Come up with solutions of different risk areas

☺2016:

•             Purchase a part of beef from a fully verified sustainable supply chain through a 

              Canadian Beef Pilot Program

•             Deliver meaningful impact on economy, environment and society through Beef 

              Sustainability Program in Canada:
                                         
       ၀ Maintain well-managed grazing systems
                              
       ၀ Implement plans that protect water including creeks, rivers and riparian areas
                                    
       ၀ Reduce containment
                                      
       ၀ Advance animal welfare
                                      
       ၀ Support local rural economies

          
  The Future Plans By 2020

i.            Purchase all the beef needed in fully verified sustainable supply chains that follows GRSB 

              principles and criteria

ii.           Engage beef producers through outreach projects to develop and share best practices

iii.          Allow Flagship Farmers Program to select the most progressive suppliers

iv.           Establish progressive farm partnerships to trial and practice new ways of beef production

v.            Preserve forests in the regions that verified as risk areas

Beef Sustainability Program Is Not Finished  

         As far as I am concerned, although there were several achievements of McDonald’s Beef 

Sustainability Program in the last few years, it is still being implementing in order to obtain more 

favorable outcomes. For McDonald’s and its stakeholders, in order to achieve the 2020’s goal, there 

is still a long way to go. Perhaps some unpredictable issues will emerge, such as budget,

natural disaster, political changes and etc. No matter what happens, McDonald’s and its cooperators 

will figure out ways to tackle it.  

References

Beef sustainability. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8ubbgW3jZw

Clay, J. (2017). The future of beef is deforestation-free. Retrieved from          

        https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/the-future-of-beef-is-

        deforestation-free

Helping lead a global movement for beef sustainability. (2018). Retrieved from

        https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/scale-for-good/beef-sustainability.html

McDonald’s. Helping lead a global movement for beef sustainability. Beef sustainability report.         

        (2018). Retrieved from https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/content/dam/gwscorp/scale-for-      

        good/McDonald%27s-Beef-Sustainability-Report.pdf