Grand Canyon Times

In response to Vice President Kamala Harris (D) saying she would change the government dietary guidelines to reduce Americans’ consumption of red meat, representatives of Arizona’s cattle industry say that such an action would be “a huge hardship to ranches in the state of Arizona.” 

Arizona Cattle Growers CEO Mike Gannuscio said that a decline in red meat sales would be economically detrimental to states beyond just Arizona, in addition to broader concerns.  

"To have an administration stand up and tell the public that they can’t have red meat and try and cut it out of their diet, is beyond the scope of what they should be doing and no one should stand for this,” Gannuscio told Grand Canyon Times.

Harris’ comments came during a 2019 CNN town hall meeting while Harris was a candidate for U.S. President.

“Would you support changing the dietary guidelines, the food pyramid, to reduce red meat specifically?” CNN’s Erin Burnett asked.

“Yes, I would,” Harris answered.

Harris ended her presidential campaign before a single Democratic primary took place in the 2020 election, before being selected as President Joe Biden’s running mate.

Rep. Eli Crane (R-02) called the Vice President’s suggestion, in part, an “unprecedented overreach.”

“This type of unprecedented overreach is a disgraceful affront to our founding principles. The government has no place dictating the dietary decisions of Americans based off radical and twisted climate ideology. Governmental decrees like this would be painfully detrimental to Arizona’s ranchers, which, in turn, would dramatically impact both our way of life and our economic potential,” Crane said.

Gannuscio continued that federal government intervention in Arizona land affairs was already having a detrimental effect on the cattle industry. 

“Our ranching industry in Arizona is one of our five C’s that our state was built on. The agricultural industry is one of the biggest businesses here. Cutting ranching out affects so many families. They’re already doing it by putting solar on our ranches and making our herd numbers smaller. They’re doing everything they can to push us off the map. One of the big things that I’m fighting for in this state is to get our state to get our lands back from the federal government, and get our state in control of it through state trust land instead of BLM (Bureau of Land Management), but it’s going to kill our economy,” Gannuscio said.

The “5 C’s” as mentioned by Gannuscio are copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate. All five elements served as the backbone of Arizona's foundational economy and still hold a place of economic and cultural importance in the state today.

Gannuscio, also a candidate for Mohave County Sheriff, weighed in on the implications of government officials telling citizens what they can and can’t do.

“We need to get rid of the current administration and their thought process of what they think we need, and let us decide for ourselves as a society. Our administration that we have now – their goals and aspirations for what our country needs is destroying our country. They’re trying to grow fake meat in a lab so that we never know what’s in the meat, you know, and they’re trying to pull us from gas-powered vehicles to electric-powered vehicles, which is destroying our world because we don’t have the infrastructure, nor do we have the minerals to make the batteries to sustain what they’re wanting us to do,” Gannuscio said.

“They’re going to bankrupt our country, which is going to have a huge impact on our world and if our country doesn’t stand up and get these people out of office, there’s going to be a downfall after this election that I don’t think we can recover from. So hopefully, the American public sees through this masquerade and gets these people out of there and gets our country back on track.”

Changing government dietary guidelines to encourage less beef consumption would undoubtedly impact Arizona's economy, which is home to 19,000 farms and ranches that produce $6.73 million in cash receipts annually, according to the Arizona Beef Council.

Arizona Beef Executive Director Lauren Scheller Maehling also spoke to Grand Canyon Times about the importance of the cattle and beef industry to the state’s economy.

Grazing land makes up 73% of Arizona’s total land area and about 98% of Arizona’s total agricultural land, according to a 2014 report by The University of Arizona, and the state saw more than $800 million in cattle and calf sales in 2011.