Systematic mapping of threats to U.S. beef production

For the last 65 years, the United States (U.S.) agriculture has been a global leader in total factor productivity (TFP). Within this highly productive and diverse agri-food system, the beef cattle industry stands out distinctly in its operations and for its substantial contributions. After the 11 September 2001, attacks, potential threats to the U.S. agricultural sector, especially the beef supply chain, became a key concern. Agroterrorism and other cross-border threats pose severe challenges to this vital supply chain, raising food and national security concerns. This study aims to comprehensively map potential U.S. beef supply chain threats, focusing on the production phase. The production phase refers to the production phases before harvest: feed production, veterinary services, genetics/breeding, cow-calf operations, background and stocker operations, grass-finishing, and feedlots. The review focuses on three goals: (a) the distribution of research on threats to the production phase of the U.S. beef supply chain. (b) Systematically identify and categorize risks in U.S. beef production, focusing on variables such as threat categories, threat type, specific diseases, pathogens, transmission sources, and their impacts on stakeholders and cattle health. (c) Categorize the solutions/strategies. We set the time frame from 2010 to 2024 and included the publications in the CAB Abstracts (Ovid) database, grey literature from research organizations and conferences proceedings. Evidence and gap maps (EGMs) were employed to visualize the characteristics and distribution of the included studies and identify major scholarly interests and research gaps. This mapping review provides an accessible, comprehensive, and understandable synthesis of data that will inform stakeholders for quickly identifying trends and solutions from diverse research efforts nationally and globally, enabling more effective responses to emerging threats in the U.S. beef supply chain and providing valuable insights for future research to address gaps in the beef production phase.