The social media tycoon Mark Zuckerberg’s latest business venture raising “world-class” beef cattle on his sprawling luxury Hawaiian hideaway has been derided as out of touch and environmentally irresponsible.
The Meta billionaire posted a picture of himself on Wednesday eating a steak – medium rare, no sides – from his Ko’olau ranch, a 1,400-acre compound on Kauai, Hawaii’s oldest island.
“Started raising cattle at [the] Ko’olau ranch on Kauai, and my goal is to create some of the highest quality beef in the world,” wrote Zuckerberg on Instagram.
Only the best, then, for the world’s sixth richest man, who is farming wagyu and Angus cattle, which yield some of the world’s most expensive meat.
“Each cow eats 5,000-10,000lbs of food each year, so that’s a lot of acres of macadamia trees. My daughters help plant the mac trees and take care of our different animals. We’re still early in the journey and it’s fun improving on it every season. Of all my projects, this is the most delicious,” added Zuckerberg, whose wealth currently stands at $129bn, according to Bloomberg.
The cattle will be raised on macadamia nuts and beer produced within the $100m compound – which will also house an underground bunker and energy projects, according to a recent investigation by Wired.
“Raising cattle on water-intensive macadamia nuts and beer is just a billionaire’s strange sideshow. We need real agriculture reform to address the inequities in our food system and the reality of a warming climate,” said Mitch Jones, policy director at Food & Water Watch, a national legal and policy nonprofit.
“We need to promote the viability of small and medium-sized farms that work to feed everyone, not just wealthy celebrities.”
Beef is a major contributor to deforestation, water pollution and global heating. Climate scientists warn that consumption must fall, especially in the developed world, in order to limit the most harmful effects of the climate crisis.
A fully grown cow can release up to 500 litres of methane per day, which accounts for about 3.7 % of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Methane – the greenhouse gas cattle emit in their belches – is highly potent, and over the course of 20 years causes about 85 times more warming than CO2.
On X, the social media platform owned by rival Elon Musk, the response to Zuckerberg’s new career as a beef farmer was largely mocking.
“Proud of you, man. You really fulfilled that dream of putting food in your mouth in the manner that causes the most climate change possible for a human being,” said Andrew Greenberg, an author and journalist.
Shalin Gala from the animal rights group Peta condemned Zuckerberg for being stuck in the “dark ages”. Another critic, coloradotravis, tweeted: “The absolute stones it must take post ‘I’m growing a macadamia orchard to feed my artisan wagyu’ during an era of rising populism.”
