Legacy Verified, LLC is excited to announce its partnership with Integrity Beef Alliance (IBA) and their new Legacy Program! With the announcement that the project has been awarded a $30 million grant from the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, Legacy Verified is poised to offer their third-party verification services to assist IBA and their partners in collaborative efforts to transition the U.S. Beef Industry toward carbon-neutral beef production.
In cooperation with IBA, American Farmland Trust, Indigo Ag, AgriWebb, and multiple producer groups, Legacy Verified will help bring the most innovative, complete, and transparent sustainability program to consumers world-wide. By leveraging multiple marketing strategies including direct sales from local farmers markets, regional distribution channels, and national and global consumer-facing food companies, this team of innovators’ goal is to bring wholesome, sustainably raised, carbon-neutral, Climate Smart Beef to consumers around the world. “We are very excited to align our services with such innovative companies,” said Legacy Verified’s President and Managing Partner, RaeMarie Knowles. “Being one part of such a great team of professionals is an honor and we are proud to offer Legacy Verified’s knowledge and experience in third- party verification services to Integrity Beef Alliance and their Legacy Program.”
The Legacy Program centers itself squarely on two primary pillars: The Principles of Soil Health and the six U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef indicators. By focusing the Legacy Program on land stewardship principles, the program will poise members to take advantage of multiple benefits to their operation. Benefits include increased climate resilience in times of unprecedented drought and floods; potential reduction of operational costs; improved animal husbandry practices; and market differentiation within the industry, which will lead to higher market-based producer premiums and consumer demand for our unique beef product. “The goal of this program is to create a movement within the beef industry as a major solution to the climate challenges of our time,” said Meredith Ellis, Integrity Beef Board Member, Producer Member, “allowing the consumer a choice in climate-smart, carbon-neutral beef at their local grocery store or farmer’s market, and to empower the rancher, both financially and in terms of grazing land health for generations to come.”
“When developing the Legacy Program, we knew that a producer-driven, principle-based program, (rather than a top-down,) practice-based program, would allow ranchers the flexibility to make their own decisions on how to achieve land stewardship goals,” stated Robert Wells, Ph.D. Executive Director. “Context is important, and this program is designed to empower the rancher, not hinder them.” “It really is a two-pronged approach,” added Knowles. “Legacy Verified will lend its third-party auditing expertise to the above-ground verification process, including the verification of ranch safety, animal welfare, and rangeland health, and that coupled with the work done by Indigo Ag, in measuring the below-ground soil health, makes this program not only exceptionally thorough, but remarkably unique as well.”
“I think the Integrity Beef Alliance Legacy Program is going to revolutionize our industry,” continues Knowles. “For too long we have allowed people, outside of our industry, to direct the narrative. It is time to take our own story back. We know that cattle production is one of the most environmentally friendly practices on the planet. Now, through the Legacy Program, we have the chance to tell our own story, the right way, while providing safe, wholesome, and nutritious beef to consumers world-wide.”