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In many parts of the world, including the USA, the beef supply chain engages many small-scale producers raising cows and calves on rangelands. This part of the beef supply chain is a social-ecological system where raising cattle is tied to livelihoods, land, natural resource and agricultural uses, and ecosystem processes. To produce and market beef products this system relies on transportation and markets to bring cattle to fewer and larger operations for finishing, and to a handful of beef processors for slaughter and wholesale marketing. With the inclusion of imported lean beef from South America and Oceania, US beef production is a globally connected system that impacts the sustainability of rangeland s and their ecosystem services across continents. Using livestock identification inspection data and survey, this research describes California's beef production system. Managing rangeland resources for multiple ecosystem services, California's beef cattle producers seasonally move calves from rangelands often to intensive feeding operations. Fat-trim, a by-product of intensive feeding creates a demand for lean beef from g razing land cattle (including imports). The demand for beef, dairy and mutton is projected to nearly double with the world population reaching 9 to 11 billion by 2050. Whereas increases in beef production have been primarily achieved through intensive livestock production systems, extensive systems exist in parallel and can be integrated with intensive production systems to increase production. Integration can contribute to sustaining rangelands and their ecosystem services. Data and communication technologies that support livestock records, mark ets, and price discovery afford more opportunity to integrate production systems at local, national, and even international levels and influence sustainability.