This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
A Democratic state representative running in Colorado’s highly competitive 8th Congressional District, which is one of the state’s ranching and agricultural centers, has a long history of raising questions about the production and consumption of meat and dairy products.
Manny Rutinel’s activism dates back to at least his days as an undergraduate student in Florida, where he posed shirtless on campus, draped in a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals banner, to illustrate the amount of water used in beef production measured in showers.
As a student at Yale Law School, he was quoted in a campus publication saying “animal agriculture is a horrific, exploitive industry.”
“Farmers are polluting a lot in animal agriculture, and if they switched to plant agriculture, they would emit much less while still producing great products,” he said, explaining a proposal he supported to use carbon-offset credits to pay farmers to transition from animal agriculture to plant agriculture.
And in the years before entering the state legislature, he founded an organization that signed onto letters encouraging a shift away from animal products, including by raising taxes on meat, dairy and eggs.
“The globe must dramatically shift away from animal products and toward fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts,” Rutinel told a legislative committee in Connecticut in 2021, citing a report on climate change.
Rutinel, who lives in Commerce City, now wants to represent the 8th District, which could be called Colorado’s agricultural capital. The district is home to some of the nation’s biggest meat and dairy producers, the kinds of corporations that Rutinel’s past advocacy appeared directed toward.
One of the district’s largest employers is JBS, the international meatpacking giant, whose U.S. headquarters are in Greeley. The district houses many cattle feedlots, including the Five Rivers operation in Kersey, which is one of the state’s largest. Ranches dot the landscape. Leprino Foods operates a major mozzarella plant in Greeley. Aurora Organic also has dairy operations in the district. Morning Fresh Farms cultivates eggs in Platteville.
Statewide, agriculture is a $47 billion industry that employs nearly 200,000 people. And Weld County, much of which is in the district, is considered the most agriculturally productive county in the state.
Ranching and agriculture played a role in the past two elections in the district, which were each decided by a few thousand votes and less than a percentage point. The district’s current representative, Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, owns a small cattle herd and describes himself as a beef producer. The Democratic incumbent he beat in 2024 made the farm bill one of her biggest priorities.
The race next year in the 8th District will likely be just as close. And likely just as focused on ag, especially given the ongoing war of words between rural communities and Democratic leaders, like Gov. Jared Polis, over their livelihoods.
Rutinel, amid his run for Congress, says his opinions on meat and dairy are more nuanced than his previous actions and statements would suggest. He said he opposes the bad actors in those industries, not the industries as a whole.
“Like all industry, there are bad apples, and I’ve spoken out against those bad apples that cause extreme and unnecessary animal cruelty in parts of the food industry and against the environmental cost of unsustainable food practices,” he said. “I think that cruelty and environmental harm is concerning to many Coloradans, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat or independent.”
Agriculture accounted for about 11% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, with livestock management representing 6% of statewide emissions alone, according to 2020 estimates from Polis’ administration. The energy sector, including transportation, oil and gas drilling, electricity generation, made up 84% of the state’s emissions.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector is part of Colorado’s climate mitigation plan to stave off the worst effects of climate change, like worsening wildfires and flooding.
In an interview this month, Rutinel called Colorado ranchers “the envy of the globe” and leaders in sustainability.
“They’re good stewards of the land, they care for their animals and they are the backbone of our economy and our communities,” he said. “Colorado ranchers are my friends and neighbors, and I’ve gotten to know them.”
“Maybe they should be a little scared”
When asked about his biggest concerns in meat and dairy production, Rutinel said he’s worried about caged, egg-producing hens. Colorado banned the sale of eggs from caged hens starting this year, a change in law that Rutinel says he supports.
As for ranching, Rutinel said he’s most concerned with deforestation abroad to make room for grazing. Deforestation releases carbon dioxide and reduces greenhouse gas absorption, which in turn accelerates climate change.
When asked for examples of other issues he has with the ranching industry, Rutinel said “nothing else is coming to mind at the moment.”
“Like I said, Colorado ranchers do great practices,” he said. “They graze appropriately. They use sustainable watering practices, source their feed from sustainable sources.”
In the past, however, Rutinel’s opposition to meat and dairy farming has appeared to go much further.
The Colorado Sun asked Rutinel to elaborate on some of his past comments on the topics.
He said he never worked with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, in any formal way and that his goal in posing in the group’s banner in college was to bring attention to “the environmental cost of various agricultural practices.”
As for the Yale Law School interview, Rutinel said he was only referring to the agricultural industry’s “bad apples.”
While at Yale, Rutinel also started a petition to get the fast-food chain Popeyes, famous for its fried chicken, to offer a plant-based protein option.
Rutinel said he doesn’t support increasing taxes on meat, dairy and eggs in order to persuade voters to buy other food products, despite signing the organization he led, Climate Refarm, onto a letter calling for just that.
“In coalition work, lots of ideas get circulated,” he said. “I don’t agree with every single sentence within those letters.”
Climate Refarm was a small operation that Rutinel cofounded and led as CEO. The organization’s goal was to help institutions like schools and hospitals reduce food-related emissions by shifting to plant-based meals. It has since dissolved.
“I will not support any new taxes on hardworking Coloradans,” Rutinel said.
As for his testimony before the Connecticut legislature, Rutinel said he wasn’t advocating against all meat production and consumption.
“I was advocating for a sustainable food system,” he said.
But for all of his explanations about his past comments and actions on meat and dairy, he’s also acknowledged why people who work in those industries may be worried about him.
“There’s a tweetstorm happening about me right now where somebody from the meat and oil industry — they’re all scared and they’re trying to warn everybody about what I’m about to do,” he said at the University of Denver in October 2023, a few days after he was appointed to a seat in the state legislature by a vacancy committee.
“Maybe they’re right,” he joked. “Maybe they should be a little scared.”
In fact, he told students at DU’s law school, the way animals are treated as part of agricultural processes was one of the reasons he decided to get involved in politics. And during the speech, he called a pair of 2024 Denver ballot measures that would have banned fur sales and slaughterhouses in the city “really awesome.”
Both initiatives were rejected by voters.
Rutinel sees eliminating tariffs as a way to help ag producers
Rutinel says if elected to Congress he does plan on taking up issues that affect farmers and ranchers, but in a context different from his previous advocacy.
He said he wants to do away with President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which he says are threatening the livelihood of ranchers and farmers.
“I think we need someone in Congress who will fight these reckless economic policies,” said Rutinel, who added that he consumes animal products. “I think we need someone who’s focused on lowering costs, and that’s been my focus since I got to the legislature.”
Rutinel also expressed interest in expanding Colorado’s law allowing farmers and ranchers to repair their equipment by requiring that manufacturers provide them with the tools and information to do so.
And if elected, Rutinel vowed to work with all employers and industries in the 8th District, including the meatpacking giant JBS, which is based in Brazil and has faced scrutiny for how it treats its workers and the environment.
“I want to work with all of them wherever possible to make sure their workers are safe and they’re producing products that are safe, healthy, sustainable and affordable,” he said.
The Democratic primary in the 8th District will be held in June.
