Right-wing media's longstanding claims of a Democratic “war on meat" have given Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins cover to blame rising beef prices on Democrats and climate policy — even as cattle ranchers themselves point to climate-driven drought as one factor contributing to small herd sizes and voice their opposition to the administration’s plans to import Argentine beef. 

On December 8, Rollins told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, “The cost of ground beef is actually coming down, so we’ve started now the trajectory down. But let’s be very clear: To rebuild the lowest beef herd in 75 years … will take a little bit of time. You think about the last administration. They had a war on American agriculture. They thought that cows created climate change. They didn't want big herds, and the cost of inputs were skyrocketing.” 

She made similar claims prior to this appearance at least five separate times on Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria, Fox News’ Fox & Friends, and CNN’s The Situation Room. 

Right-wing media have long tried to pit ranchers and farmers against environmentalists and those attempting to mitigate the environmental impacts of agriculture, including falsely claiming Democratic leaders and the Inflation Reduction Act (which they often called the “Green New Deal”) would ban meat.

• The Inflation Reduction Act included a program aimed at reducing methane emissions, but it included only “voluntary, incentive-based approaches” for farmers and ranchers. In 2023, the Biden administration announced the Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which included plans to mitigate methane emissions. The only elements of the action plan targeting agricultural methane emissions were “voluntary, incentive-based approaches,” even though the sector is responsible for an estimated 37% of human-caused emissions globally, and about 10.5% in the U.S. According to Sentient Media, these incentives might have had the potential to “increase emissions from the sector.” [Vox, 8/16/22; Reuters, 1/11/22; Sentient Media, 9/28/23; The White House, 11/2/21, 12/23; Environmental Protection Agency 12/2/2; U.S. Department of Agriculture, 11/5/24]
   
• Severe drought and changing weather patterns have contributed to shrinking U.S. cattle herds. According to Investigate Midwest, climate change-driven weather volatility has “made relying on typical weather patterns and grazing conditions difficult for the nation’s beef producers." That means ranchers must transport feed from farther away, increasing costs. They are also forced to wean calves earlier so heifers expend less energy feeding calves and require fewer nutrients. Some farmers have even had to cull their herds. [Bloomberg, 1/31/25; Investigate Midwest, 3/13/24; South Dakota State University Extension, 3/21/25; Grain Journal, 6/12/25]
   
• Several ranchers and cattle industry players told Fox News that prolonged drought is tightening livestock supply and hurting their bottom lines. Various cattle ranchers told Fox News and Fox News Digital that drought helped herd sizes hit a historic low and said that it was contributing to “the ongoing decline of the industry.” In 2023, a Florida-based rancher also told Fox News that extreme drought was part of the problem because it was “increasing our production costs” and it would “have a long-term effect on our bottom line.” [Fox News Digital, 11/24/25; Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 10/25/25; Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/12/23]
   
• Inflation, high interest rates, and Trump’s tariffs are impacting ranchers. ABC News reported in October that amid rising inflation, beef prices were soaring, noting also that “tariffs modestly contributed to the uptick in overall inflation.” A report from the American Farm Bureau Federation also found that inflation and interest rates were “driving up costs for farmers.” The report noted: “When the Fed increased rates, they dramatically increased the cost of borrowing money across the economy. This has happened at a time when farmers and ranchers rely more heavily on credit due to the growing gap between commodity prices and input costs.” [ABC News, 10/24/25; American Farm Bureau Federation, 8/26/25]

• In 2019, right-wing media falsely said the Green New Deal would ban meat and that it was “bad news or cows." Fox host Brian Kilmeade said that the Green New Deal would be “bad news for cows,” adding, “Time to slaughter all of them quickly because of their propensity for gas.” Climate skeptic Marc Morano told Kilmeade the same day, “We're told we need to do all of this, from banning meat, to airline getting rid of the combustion, internal combustion engine, all to save from us from a climate emergency.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/8/19, 2/8/19; Fox News Primetime, 8/9/21]
   
• In 2021, Fox News spread a fake story that then-President Joe Biden wanted to ban hamburgers. The administration did not call for an end to meat consumption. But on Fox News @ Night, anchor Shannon Bream asked viewers, “Could new climate impact plans limit you to just one burger a month?” She later added, “About the burger thing, I'm not going to comply with that.” On Fox News’ America Reports with John Roberts, Fox’s “straight news” program, chyrons included, “Bye-bye burgers under Biden’s climate plan,” as well as “Study: 90% of red meat out with Biden climate plan,” and “Biden’s climate plan burns all-you-can-eat burgers.” [Media Matters, 4/26/21]
   
• In 2022, right-wing media used farmer protests in the Netherlands over plans to cut nitrogen pollution to fearmonger about a globalist conspiracy to trample freedoms, including eating meat. [The Guardian, 11/16/23; Media Matters; 7/8/22, 7/15/22, 11/8/22]
   
• Frequent Fox News guest and Tennessee dairy farmer Stephanie Nash has appeared on several segments across right-wing programs, telling hosts that the “Green New Deal” and Biden’s “energy climate change initiative” would lead to “empty shelves” and that the Biden administration was targeting farmers. Nash told hosts that “Americans should be prepared for food shortages” because “the Green New Deal … is an attack on family farmers and ranchers,” and that “climate change has always been a hoax for the agriculture industry, they continue to blame agriculture for global warming and change of our planet. … I think this is just an excuse to continue to blame agriculture, to continue to let our farmers struggle around this country.” She also said that the administration was “trying to push agriculture out of the United States, pushing this plant-based food.” As recently as this October, Nash said on Fox Business, “Everybody knows that we’ve been bringing in more imports than ever the last two years, and that’s thanks to the Green New Deal. … Trump is trying to fix that and bring back American agriculture.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 8/10/22, 10/3/25; Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/5/22; Newsmax, Rob Schmit Tonight, 7/6/22; Fox Business, Cavuto: Coast to Coast, 8/10/22;]
   
• Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis said that “what happened to Big Oil … same thing is going to happen to the farmers.” DeAngelis argued that “more regulations make it harder for those companies to increase supply” and that “food costs will continue to rise.” [Fox Business, Cavuto: Coast to Coast, 8/10/22]
   
• A 2024 Fox Business interview with a cattle rancher pushed the narrative that “global sustainability initiatives could cause millions of people to starve.” Host Dagen McDowell told Texas and Colorado-based cattle rancher Shad Sullivan that “the climate crusading wack jobs want to destroy us, our life, and your livelihood." Sullivan told the hosts that “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.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line,  2/15/24]
   
• Right-wing media falsely claimed that Kamala Harris wanted to “get rid of” red meat. Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz, for instance, made the claim on three different segments, saying, “She wants to get rid of meat.” Former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also translated Harris’ support for changing the dietary guidelines to “get rid of red meat.” [Media Matters, 8/6/24]
   
• In an interview with Rollins, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade blamed “craziness around climate change” for “a shortage of shrinking cattle” herd sizes. Kilmeade claimed that this was because of “the methane from the cows they thought was killing the ozone.” Rollins agreed that Democrats have “waged war” against cattle ranchers. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/24/25]