Improved protein production and efficiency from beef cattle with reduced Greenhouse Gas emissions (IMPRO-BEEF)

Beef farmers will soon be able to identify and breed from their most efficient cattle, cutting both feed costs and greenhouse gas emissions from the same animals. The problem is straightforward: beef production is resource-intensive, and a significant share of emissions from UK agriculture comes from cattle. Current breeding programmes focus on traits like growth rate or meat quality, but rarely on the overall efficiency of converting feed into protein. This project closes that gap by developing a practical selection programme that commercial farmers can use to identify the most efficient animals in their own herds. If the approach works, the impact is a genuine win-win. Farmers improve their profit margins by spending less on feed per kilogram of beef produced, while the UK reduces agricultural greenhouse gas emissions without cutting output. The project aligns directly with the government’s goal of “sustainable intensification”—producing more food with fewer environmental costs. For the public, this means a lower-carbon food supply without higher prices or reduced availability. For the farming industry, it offers a practical, data-driven tool that can be rolled out across commercial herds, not just research farms.