Vilsack: No Land Grab or Beef Diet Limits

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said there’s no truth to the talk that the Biden Administration wants to take land away from people and discourage consumers from eating beef to help fight climate change.

Vilsack said the president wants to protect 30% of the nation’s land by 2030 but doesn’t plan to use eminent domain to take possession of that land. Earlier this week Vilsack told ag journalists the talk of a land grab is really off base.

“There’s no intent to take away land from farmers,” he says. “The goal is to give farmers more opportunities.”

Vilsack also talked about rumors that the Biden Administration plans to limit how much beef Americans eat. Vilsack said there is no effort in place to limit the intake of beef coming out of the White House or USDA.

“In the political world, games get played, and issues get brought into play,” Vilsack said. The rumor seems to have started, Vilsack said, thanks to a University of Michigan study on beef. The study says cutting the intake of all animal-based foods by 50% and replacing that with equivalent quantities of plant-based food would decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 35%.

“There’s no policy paper in the administration suggesting that people eat less meat,” he added

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