Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s $3 million campaign to urge Denver residents and visitors to eat less meat to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) is tone deaf at best. There is no need for widening the divide between people and where their food comes from, especially here and now.
Attempting to influence people’s food choices to fit an agenda funded by cause celebs is elitist, especially in a time when families are struggling to put nutritious food on the table. This is certainly further compounded by the shaky foundation of misinformation the campaign appears to be based upon when the priorities of the funding office shouldn’t have arbitrarily added livestock to the conversation.
Colorado protein producers have embraced efficiencies and new methods that put sustainability at the top of the list of priorities, not because it was forced upon them, but because doing right by the land and livestock is an investment in their success. The margins in production agriculture don’t allow much room for error, and though there are certainly bad actors in every business, the agriculture producers I’m familiar with do their best to care for the land and their livelihood. Colorado would benefit from understanding agriculture’s role in feeding the world, stewarding the land, providing habitat for 900-plus species and keeping the economy statewide and in the rural communities where stock trailers often roll through town…