US Lawmakers Upset With JBS

Jun 15, 2021

Meat packing giant JBS is coming under fire from some US lawmakers, for paying a multi-million-dollar ransom following a cyber-attack this month.

The company revealed last week, it paid the equivalent of 11 million dollars' worth of Bitcoin to what's believed to have been a group of Russian hackers that infiltrated its computer system. The cyber-attack forced the company to shut down operations at several of its plants around the world for at least 24 hours, including the huge plant in Brooks. In a statement, JBS said it was a difficult decision to make but felt it had to be made to prevent any potential risk to customers. But some members of the US Congress are worried that simply paying a ransom to unlock computers will set a dangerous precedent for other would-be hackers to launch similar attacks. Two weeks earlier, a major pipeline company in the US was the victim of a cyber-attack. It also revealed it paid millions of dollars to unlock its computers.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.