Cattle rancher warns climate crisis is threatening US food supply

A worldwide "anti-meat rhetoric" is apparently putting America’s food security and farmers’ livelihoods at grave risk, according to Texas and Colorado-based cattle rancher Shad Sullivan.

"They've all teamed up in this anti-meat rhetoric that you see sweeping across the globe, to get control of the people. And that's all it amounts to, is total control," Sullivan said on "The Bottom Line," Wednesday.

"The tyrants need a rally cry. And that rally cry is the climate crisis," the rancher continued. "Sustainability is nothing more than production and consumption control. It's any ‘ism’ except Americanism."

At the recent COP28 climate summit in Dubai, The UN's Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a first-of-its-kind document that recommended nations that "over-consume meat" to limit their consumption as part of a broader effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Bloomberg reported.

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In addition to issuing guidelines for reducing meat consumption in the West, the FAO was allegedly expected to highlight how farmers should adapt to "erratic weather" and tackle their emissions produced from food waste and use of fertilizer.

Sullivan called the move an "attack on private property," and named specific public figures who he feels have influenced geopolitical groups.

"It starts with the global elite. People like Bill Gates and Soros and Klaus Schwab and the Rockefellers," the rancher said, "and they have employed their foot soldiers at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, who both have said that the greatest threat to the planet right now is beef."

"So, in order to get control of that consumption and production, which is what they call sustainability, they have to come after our property rights," he explained.

At the same time, America is reportedly running low on cows, according to new numbers out earlier this month from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The figures show ranchers have fewer cattle, which is contributing to the cost of beef being more expensive.

Agricultural economists say persistent drought over the last three years, along with high input costs and inflation, are putting pressure on both consumers and farmers.

"You have one set of ideologues that don't believe in eating any kind of meat or using animals as a renewable resource. And then you have the global corporations that are taking over our food supply at an alarming rate. It's beyond alarming now," Sullivan explained. "And then you have those two ideologies coming together, and it’s shown that it's a threat to, not only capitalism, but it's a threat to our food supply."

The cattle rancher likened the anti-meat mentality to communism and Marxism.

"It's become a controlled market from top to bottom. In the United States, our government is from the bottom up, not the top down. And these regulatory aspects that they're wanting to implement are top-down. They come from the top and come down to the producer," he noted.

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In hopes of keeping his ranch doors open, Sullivan encouraged everyday Americans to buy produce and meats sourced from the U.S. and urged regulators to reestablish country-of-origin labeling.

"The American consumer does not know where their beef and pork are coming from because we don't have [labeling]. They deserve the freedom to choose. And it is a liberty issue," he said. "You got to buy local. You got to buy American. You have to demand American-made. And we have to start supporting our producers across this country in any way."

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FOX Business’ Kennedy Hayes and FOX News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.