Wind turbines are saving the ranchers who vote against them

“Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?” – John Heywood (1546)

The myth

The cowboy is a luminous figure in America’s mythology. Hollywood spun a hard, dirty job into a noble pursuit. Western celluloid heroes wore white hats, honored women, talked softly, and, if needs must, shot the bad guy dead after he left John Wayne with no other option. The truth was less romantic. But cowboys did drive cattle – the clue is in the name. And a lot of them plied their trade in Texas.

Cold reality

But today, the descendants of these frontier men are not having an easy economic time of it. Drought has dried up pasture lands. And ranchers have had to cull their herds as feedstocks wither. Short supply has led to soaring beef prices. And, as a result, this year’s Memorial Day BBQs are costing more than ever. Since January 2025, the cost of beef steak has risen by 19%. And the price of ground beef has increased by 27%.

To salt the wound, inflation, tariffs, meatpackers’ pricing, high operational costs, and dwindling ranchland have contributed to the expense of putting steak on a plate. And looming south of the border is a brewing screw worm crisis. The threat of this flesh-eating parasite has closed the door to Mexican beef.

This confluence of blows has consequences for businesses sensitive to beef prices. And Texas’s BBQ restaurants are bearing the cost. The Washington Post reports on the carnage in a piece headlined: “Some of Texas’s oldest barbecue joints close as meat prices skyrocket.” The subhead reinforces the point: “Even the state’s most celebrated restaurants are struggling to remain open as costs climb, with no relief in sight.“

The article explains: “Inside the kitchens of Texas’s more than 3,000 barbecue purveyors, whose very existence depends on a plentiful and affordable supply of quality beef, the effect has been close to cataclysmal {sic].”

Russell Roegels personalizes the general problem. He is at the top of the BBQ mountain. For 25 years, he has owned a Houston BBQ restaurant that served George H. W. Bush, pro sports stars, and people with expense accounts. However, his brisket prices have risen 28% in one year, leaving him teetering. In his words: “This is as bad as it gets. Everybody’s at risk these days: You’re one bad week from closing.”

Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association, points out that a BBQ restaurant closing isn’t just one fewer eatery open. It is a blow to the state’s culture and self-image. She says, “What is at risk now is losing that community and culture. It’s much bigger than just a business closing. We are going to lose some of these special, culturally significant restaurants.”

Daniel Vaughn, Texas Monthly’s barbecue editor (you know something is significant if there’s an editor for it), identified another problem. For years, BBQ restaurants could absorb higher meat prices because the sides were relatively inexpensive. But now the cost of those too is rising.

He says: “Now the price of everything has gone up, everything they need to run that restaurant: labor costs, takeout containers, coleslaw, and those other meat proteins. You can’t really hide that price anymore.” He is referring to brisket now costing customers $40 a pound.

Is there a black hat?

This worsening outlook for BBQ restaurants raises the question: Is there human agency behind the crisis? Or is it just a product of bad luck? The answer is a combination. Droughts are a natural phenomenon. However, climatologists are almost unanimous in the conclusion that they are made worse by human-caused climate change.

Trump’s financial policies (particularly tariffs) have made imports more expensive. The administration’s PR people can spin it anyway they want. But if you add a cost to something, someone has to pay it. An analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations shows that 55% of the cost of tariffs is borne by the consumer

In addition, Trump’s Iran War has made everything more costly to transport. The closing of the Strait of Hormuz has led to diesel prices jumping by $2.00 in three months

The increasing demand for housing as Texas attracts new residents has made it profitable for ranchers to sell their acreage. Raw land prices in the state have increased 60% since 2020 Meat packers have had to contend with immigration policies that could affect 50% of their workforce.

A ray of hope

Yet amid all this, one unexpected source of stability has emerged for many ranchers. Ironically, despite Texas being a Republican State and the current administration being hostile to alternative energy, ranchers do have one safety net. Solar farms and wind turbines. Energy companies in Texas typically pay landowners between $300 and $2,000 per acre annually for solar farms and $3,000 to $8,000 per turbine annually (or 2% to 8% of gross revenue).

There are currently 19,000 wind turbines in Texas. At an average of $5,500 per turbine, that represents an annual $104 million windfall to the owners of open land. The better news is that, as wind turbines have a tiny footprint, ranchers can still use their land to raise cattle.

Sometimes you can have your steak and eat it.