Dori: Are Bill Gates and climate change activists coming for your burgers and steaks?

Spring barbecue grilling season is just around the corner, but billionaire and internationalist philanthropist Bill Gates has a message for meat lovers: real beef is bad.

In his book about climate change and an interview with Technology Review, the former Microsoft guru says “all rich countries should move to 100 percent synthetic beef,” The Dori Monson Show told listeners.

To Dori, who likes few things more than a “thickly marbled steak,” them ’s fightin’ words. And to the 9,000 cattle owners in Washington state, Gates’ thoughts on the meat matter are even worse.

Switch from cattle-raised beef to plant-based meat – and put cattle farms out of business? Dori wanted the opinion of Reid Wilson, an Okanogan area rancher and member of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association

“Anything Bill Gates has to say is obviously pushing for his agenda,” Wilson told Dori’s listeners. The long-time north-central Washington beef producer believes the public would push back.

“People in the world and especially in the United States love eating beef. It’s the No. 1 best meat you can get,” Wilson said. “When people want to go out to dinner on a special occasion, they say ‘let’s go get a steak’ or ‘let’s go get a burger.’ It’s not ‘let’s go get something that was grown in a test tube.’”

Wilson also points out that cattle are an integral part of the state’s economy. Some 3,589 direct jobs are directly connected to Washington raised beef, according to the Washington State Beef Commission. More than 15,000 jobs are also tied to their business, which can be found in all of Washington’s 39 counties.

There’s also a big payoff statewide, statistics show. The Beef Commission reports that its industry contributes $4.686 billion to the state economy.

Beyond beef production, the cattle industry is vital in cow-calf production, Wilson added.

“It’s a tough job as it is. There’s not a lot of glory. Not a lot of money. It’s a lot of hard work, but there’s a lot of tradition and pride in what goes on,” the rancher continued. “Then someone like Bill Gates comes along and totally bashes that. I joke and laugh, but it’s pretty serious. A lot of people would lose their livelihood. There are a lot of family traditions. Ranches have been in some families for 100 years or more.”

What about the climate change argument that moving from real beef to synthetic food is needed because “cows put out so much methane with their farts?” Dori asked.

“The methane that cows put out is shorter-lived than the pollution problem in your cars, and a cow actually does more for the environment than harms it,” Wilson explained. “They eat byproducts that would ordinarily be put in the landfill . . . stuff that can’t be consumed by humans are turned into protein. They graze millions of acres of ground that isn’t suitable for anything else but growing grass.

“They turn sunshine and grass into a delicious protein that’s full of energy, iron, vitamins and zinc,” he added. “They’re a very efficient food producer.”

While Gates and climate-change environmentalists promote synthetic foods instead of real beef, Wilson doesn’t believe it will happen with a free market.

“The only way to get people switched is to mandate it,” said Wilson. “And I think we – as a country and especially as a state – are belly full of mandates lately.”

Dori, meanwhile, vowed to resist any such mandates, saying “You can have my steak when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.”

Hear Dori’s entire interview with north-central Washington rancher Reid Wilson

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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