U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef

What U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef does

The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB) is a U.S. nonprofit, multi-stakeholder membership initiative founded in 2015 to advance, support, and communicate continuous improvement in the sustainability of the U.S. beef value chain. It serves producers, allied-industry suppliers, packers and processors, retail and foodservice participants, and civil-society organizations, with equal constituency representation in governance. Its core offering is the U.S. Beef Industry Sustainability Framework, which defines six high-priority indicators and sector-specific metrics spanning environmental outcomes, employee and animal well-being, and efficiency. USRSB also operates a third-party-reviewed Recognition Program, online sustainability and grazing-management modules, a self-assessment tool, five sector-specific toolkits, and a supported research-project portfolio.

USRSB does not develop proprietary enterprise software; its technology base is a standards, measurement, education, and collaboration stack delivered through its website and learning platform. The organization partnered with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research to develop the Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap and launched it in 2025. Recurring revenue comes primarily from annual membership dues, with producer and producer-association tiers ranging from $200 to $5,000 per year and disclosed packer and processor tiers ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 per year for organizations below $100 million in revenue. Other constituency and higher-revenue tiers are not fully disclosed, while member count, project revenue, and total revenue are not publicly reported.

Name

U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef

Legal name

U.S. Roundtable For Sustainable Beef

Website

https://usrsb.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is a nonprofit membership initiative that builds sustainability frameworks, recognition programs, research agendas, training, and assessment tools for U.S. beef producers, processors, retailers, civil society, and allied organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: USRSB generates revenue through annual membership dues structured by constituency and organization size or annual revenue. Membership categories include producers (standard $200-$500/year for individuals; $1,000-$5,000/year for associations based on revenue), packers & processors ($10,000-$15,000/year based on revenue), retail & foodservice (dues structure shown but specific amounts not fully disclosed), civil society (dues structure shown), and allied industry (dues structure shown). The fiscal year runs October 1 - September 30.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

USRSB is a multi-stakeholder initiative that convenes beef value chain stakeholders across five constituencies (producers, allied industry, packers/processors, retail/foodservice, and civil society) to advance continuous improvement in sustainability. The organization develops and disseminates the U.S. Beef Industry Sustainability Framework, including high-priority indicators and sector-specific metrics, and operates a third-party reviewed Recognition Program, online training modules, a self-assessment tool, and an annual research roadmap for the U.S. beef industry.

Product overview

The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef operates as a multi-stakeholder initiative offering a unified platform of sustainability frameworks, recognition programs, and educational resources for the beef value chain. The core product is the U.S. Beef Industry Sustainability Framework, which is supported by the Recognition Program (third-party reviewed alignment verification), online training modules (Sustainability Modules, Grazing Management Plan Development Module, High-Priority Indicators & Sector Target Modules), a Self-Assessment Tool, and five sector-specific Sustainability Toolkits. Together, these products enable continuous improvement across the beef supply chain from pasture to plate.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• USRSB Recognition Program

Quantifiable outcome

• Target of 385 million acres covered by written grazing management plans by 2050
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUSRSB partnered with FFAR to convene academic and industry experts to develop the Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap. FFAR provided support to host virtual and in-person convenings aimed at understanding the current state of science and research gaps around USRSB's high-priority indicator areas.
• McDonald'scoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGold Level Sponsor of the 2024 Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap Workshop. McDonald's is an active Retail/FoodService member of USRSB and participates in the Board of Directors through Belinda Richardson.
• National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGold Level Sponsor of the 2024 Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap Workshop. NCBA is an active producer member of USRSB and co-chairs the General Assembly Planning Working Group.
• Noble Research InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSilver Level Sponsor of the 2024 Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap Workshop. Noble Research Institute is a Civil Society member represented on the Board by Hugh Aljoe and co-chairs the Research Priorities Working Group.
• AlltechminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSilver Level Sponsor of the 2024 Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap Workshop. Alltech is an Allied Industry member supporting USRSB's sustainability research initiatives.
• ZoetisminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSilver Level Sponsor of the 2024 Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap Workshop. Zoetis is an Allied Industry member supporting USRSB's sustainability research initiatives.
• Rabo AgriFinanceminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSilver Level Sponsor of the 2024 Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap Workshop. Rabo AgriFinance is an Allied Industry member represented on the Board by Lance Zimmerman.
• OSI GroupminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSilver Level Sponsor of the 2024 Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap Workshop. OSI Group is a Packer/Processor member of USRSB.
• IFEEDERminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported project (2024): CREDIBLE Environmental Accounting for U.S. Feed Ration Innovation - providing practical methods, tools, integrated models and database support to empower the U.S. feed and animal production supply chain to credibly reduce scope 3 environmental footprints.
• ArkeaBiominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported project (2024): Evaluation of Reduced Enteric Methane Emissions in Beef Cattle Using a Novel Vaccine - conducting research trials at farms in Alberta to evaluate vaccine efficacy in cow-calf and feedlot systems.
• Colorado State University AgNextcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported project (2024): Multi-stakeholder project to collect current GHG emissions, assess how interventions affect emissions, and develop coupled and decoupled pilot markets for GHG reduction across sectors and regions in the U.S.
• Kansas State UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported multiple projects including Addressing Natural Resource Concerns and Increasing Managed Grazing in the Tallgrass Prairie, Kansas High Plains Aquifer RCPP, and Climate-Smart Agriculture initiatives.
• Texas A&M UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported projects including How Do Beef Producers Benefit from Methane Reduction Markets and Integrating Systems Models with Human Behavior to Develop Regenerative Human-Beef-Grassland Systems.
• University of Tennessee Institute of AgricultureminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported project: Improving Animal Productivity and Enteric Emissions Through Identification and Manipulation of Host-Microbiome-Environment Interactions - developing solutions to decrease enteric GHG emissions while maintaining production efficiency.
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported project: Climate-Smart Agriculture Pilot Projects to Ranching Sustainability and Viability Planning (RSVP) Expansion - directly supporting USRSB environmental sustainability goals through promotion of grazing management plans across the Northern Great Plains.
• The Nature ConservancycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported project: Stewardship Hub Supporting Regenerative Grazing Lands - providing ranchers with tools, technical resources and financial incentives to enroll in supply chain or carbon market programs.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA): Largest U.S. beef industry trade association representing cattle producers. NCBA is a USRSB member and active partner, but its mandate is broader (policy, marketing, research) than USRSB's narrow sustainability focus.
• Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform): Global food-and-drink industry initiative for sustainable agriculture, including beef. Operates a comparable member-driven framework and self-assessment/recognition model across multiple commodities.
• North American Meat Institute: Trade association representing U.S. meat packing and processing companies. Comparable industry-coordination function for the beef processor constituency that USRSB's Packer/Processor seat represents.

Others

• The Nature Conservancy: Major environmental NGO that is both a USRSB Civil Society board member and a partner in the Stewardship Hub regenerative grazing initiative. Comparable as a science-driven convening organization that bridges conservation and agricultural producers.
• Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR): Public-charity research funder that co-developed the USRSB Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap. Comparable as a sustainability-research convener in U.S. agriculture that pairs industry funding with academic research.

Direct peers

• Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy: Pre-eminent U.S. dairy multi-stakeholder sustainability initiative with sector-wide goals, member-driven working groups, and recognized reporting framework. Closely mirrors USRSB's model in a parallel commodity value chain.
• Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture: Multi-stakeholder alliance convening growers, agribusinesses, retailers, and conservation groups to define sustainability metrics for U.S. row crops. Same multi-stakeholder convening model and metric-driven framework approach as USRSB, applied to crops rather than beef.
• Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef: Global multi-stakeholder initiative also convened to advance sustainable beef; provides the international framework that USRSB's U.S.-specific Framework is intended to align with. Directly comparable in structure, mission, and constituency model.

Regional players

• U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs (URSPE): If active, would be the direct poultry-sector analog of USRSB; otherwise functions as a placeholder for sister commodity roundtables. Operates the same multi-stakeholder model in an adjacent protein value chain.

Emerging players

• The Sustainability Consortium: Multi-stakeholder organization developing science-based measurement and reporting tools for consumer goods sustainability, including food and agriculture. Comparable as a framework-driven, member-funded platform but with a broader cross-commodity scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/us-roundtable-for-sustainable-beef

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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