Let Them Eat Lentils!

A recent Bloomberg op-ed went viral after the out-of-touch writer, Teresa Ghilarducci, suggested that for those making under $300,000 annually, the best way to beat inflation was to “Take the bus. Don’t buy in bulk. And try lentils instead of meat.”

The condescending punch line to wrap up this terrible elitist advice was this: “Nobody said this would be fun.”

It reminds me of Marie-Antoinette, who, in 1789, notoriously was rumored to have told the French people who were starving to death due to rodents and a poor crop harvest, “Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.”

Translation — let them eat cake.

Fast forward to 2022, and us peasants are hearing an eerily similar message.

Let them eat lentils! 

Now if you think this sentiment is only shared by one ignorant opinion writer, guess again.

A recent article from ReThink predicts that the “collapse of the livestock industry is coming.”

An excerpt from this click-bait piece reads, “The revenues of the U.S. beef and dairy industry and their suppliers will decline by at least 50% by 2030, and in 2035 by nearly 90%. The other livestock and fishery industries will follow. The volume of cattle feed crops required in the U.S. will fall by 50% by 2030. Revenues for cattle feed will therefore fall by more than 50%.”

But wait, there’s more. 

Impossible Foods CEO Patrick O. Brown recently proclaimed in an interview, “Our mission is to completely replace the use of animals as a food technology by 2035. We’re dead serious about it. We totally believe it’s doable. It’s game over for the incumbent industry, they just don’t realize it yet.”

Then there’s the World Economic Forum (WEF), who suggests we replace beef with alternatives for our health and the health of the planet. The WEF is particularly fond of protein derived from crickets. 

According to Sean Fleming for WEF, “Finding a bug in your food can be a moment of horror that kills the mood and your appetite in one fell swoop. But that might be about to change, according to Meticulous Research, who’ve crunched the numbers on why we’ll soon be voluntarily crunching insects. The market research company predicts the global market for edible insects could grow to $1.18 billion by 2023. That’s almost triple its current level.”

And if bugs masquerading as burgers doesn’t give you the creepy crawlies, then get a load of this horrifying new product.

Petri-dish proteins cultured in labs are set to take off with investors scrambling to jump on the trend — but one such product made from human cheek cells should have major alarms ringing in your mind!

Grace Knight, one of the creators of Ouroborus Steak, cultured from human cells, said in a recent interview, “People think that eating oneself is cannibalism, which technically this is not. Our design is scientifically and economically feasible but also ironic in many ways. We are not promoting 'eating ourselves' as a realistic solution that will fix humans' protein needs. We rather ask a question: what would be the sacrifices we need to make to be able to keep consuming meat at the pace that we are? In the future, who will be able to afford animal meat and who may have no other option than culturing meat from themselves?”

Other recent headlines suggest that one day beef will “become a luxury product,” and folks like Bill Gates have suggested that “rich nations should move to eating synthetic meat to save the planet.”

If it all sounds like a bad sci-fi movie, I would agree; however, this is real life, and the attacks on animal agriculture are very real and very much in play.

It is all by design, and the anti-meat agenda is overlapping, intensive, multi-faceted, and coming from every angle. It’s death by 1,000 cuts, and our own government seems fixated on helping to move this along. 

Setting aside the multiple decades of the failed USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which have demonized meat, dairy, and eggs for generations leading to skyrocketing levels of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and mental illness, check out what the government is up to in recent months. 

Consider the Federal government’s plan to “conserve 30% of the nation’s land by 2030.” Although they sell it as “voluntary conservation,” President Biden’s Executive Order 14008 is sold as an “ all-of-government effort to confront climate change, repower America’s economy with clean energy, and crate millions of jobs.”

It sounds well-intentioned at first until you realize that Federal and State governments already control 33% of land with an additional 12% of privately-owned land already in conservation easement contracts. Add in another 30% of land through 30X30, and that means the government would control a whopping 75% of our nation’s land. 

Does this sound like a good recipe for food security to you? 

Is the government good at managing anything well? Recognize the agenda for what it is, my friends, and understand that the power truly is held by we the people. Farmland and pastures are best managed by family farms who have worked these acres for hundreds of years. Remember, he who controls the land, controls the food, and he who controls the food, controls the people. Take heed of this warning siren, and plan accordingly. 

Now if you like the idea of lentils and crickets are your source of protein, have at it. However, as for myself and my ranching family, we are going to push back to ensure that everyone, on any budget, can continue to afford and have access to one of the greatest sources of protein in the world — BEEF!