There are steps that need to be taken in the beef industry today that will have to be done in order just to stay in business.

There are some things that are important, but they're probably not going to be value driven, according to Jim Peterson, who has ranching and backgrounding operations in Montana.

"They're going to be what we call the price of admission," he said in a report to the International Livestock Congress.

If a person or entity is going to participate in the industry, he will have to meet certain standards in order to participate, and that is going to be part of the cost of doing business.

Meeting Beef Quality Assurance standards is one of them. Another area included in the cost of doing business is food safety, as is environmental compatibility.

"This is an area that in some cases may weed folks out," Peterson said, "but it's something that has to happen. It's something that's going to happen."

Society demands some things from an industry, Peterson said. One is environmental compatibility.

"In other words," he said, "we have to be sensitive to the environment. I think that this whole area of feedyards and the way feedyards operate is a big issue when it comes to the environment."

There is probably not going to be an added value in the pricing structure associated with environmental concerns.

Along with environmental concern is animal welfare. "That's another area that will probably have to be addressed as we produce beef," Peterson said, "but each sector will have to do that as a participant in the beef production chain."

"The animal rights or animal welfare issues have some of the same flavor, and it's going to be something that we're just expected to do," said Dr. Mike Engler, president of Cactus Feeders. "I don't think it's going to be sufficient any longer to represent to our consumers that we know what's best for our animals. We're going to have to have some demonstrable programs in place, and they're going to have to be based on science. I think that's in our best interest. It may be in our BQA programs in the future. We're going to have to pay attention to it. It's like the environment. We want to be good neighbors and take care of the land. It's all wrapped together."

Cactus was one of the first cattle feeding companies to institute a formal environmental program at their feedyards more than two decades ago.