Fed up with taking heat for their industry’s carbon footprint, Canadian ranchers say it’s time for government to step up and fund a solution that will reduce emissions while also preserving one of earth’s most threatened ecosystems.
The beef industry is casting itself as one of the last lines of defence in protecting Canada’s native grasslands — the rippling expanse of natural prairie that once covered a significant swath of the western provinces but which has been largely lost over the past century to crop farming and urban development.
Ecologists say only 18 to 25 per cent of Canada’s natural grasslands remain.
