Beckwith comments on climate change, new bill threatening his agriculture role and more

Beckwith comments on climate change, new bill threatening his agriculture role and more

By Grace Wilson, The Statehouse File.  Jan 21, 2025

Throughout his campaign, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith proved time and again that politics and religion are near and dear to his heart. Combined, these have led to something else he’s passionate about building on in Indiana: Agriculture.

Growing up in Hillsdale, Michigan, Beckwith worked alongside his father in their dairy industry business. Together they packaged dairy products like milk and ice cream.

“I love the ag world,” Beckwith said in a recent sit-down interview with TheStatehouseFile.com. “It doesn’t matter if I’m just a normal guy on the street, I’m always going to be an ag-focused kind of guy because I believe it’s important …

“It’s the backbone industry.”

Agriculture role threatened

One of Beckwith’s jobs as lieutenant governor is to oversee the Indiana Department of Agriculture as well as serve as secretary of agriculture and rural development.

“I’m his [Gov. Mike Braun’s] secretary, essentially, and I will go … to the department and also to the state to make sure that our farmers are well taken care of, resourced, that we are looking to the future, preparing a path for the next generation to get involved in agriculture,” Beckwith said.

But Senate Bill 202, authored by Sens. Susan Glick, R-LaGrange, and Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, would make it so Beckwith would no longer oversee anything agriculture related in the state under his title as lieutenant governor. The bill is currently sitting in the Indiana Senate’s Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee awaiting a hearing.

Although he said he feels the bill will not pass, Beckwith still has concerns. He feels there would be a loss of influence for farmers and their needs would be buried within the Statehouse.

“If it is better for farmers that 202 passes, then praise God, let it happen,” Beckwith said. “I will be the biggest champion of that and I will continue to be a champion of farmers in Indiana, even though I may not be in the role that I’m in.”

Beckwith said he has heard mixed opinions on why the decision to author the bill came to be.

“Any time you challenge tradition, there’s going to be people who don’t like that you challenge traditions, and they were, you know, I can at least speak for Jim Buck … He did not like what I was doing,” Beckwith said. “I think that’s not really the point. The question I asked is, if it’s good for farmers, let’s talk about it.”

The Statehouse File reached out to Buck’s press secretary for comment Tuesday but did not hear back by press time.

Glick told Hoosier Ag Today on Jan. 9 that the bill is not meant to take anything away from Beckwith but instead to elevate the status of agriculture. The director of the Indiana Department of Agriculture would report directly to the governor instead.

“He would still be in charge, under our bill, of the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (ORCA). He’d be helping with a lot of those grants and aids throughout the state of Indiana and some of the rural areas which we want to see continue and grow, and he was very much in favor of that,” Glick said.

Glick also told Hoosier Ag Today that prior to dropping the bill, she and Buck had discussed it with Beckwith and he had given them his support. But Beckwith told the publication he had not spoken about the bill with either author and does not support it.

Policies & plans

Whether or not he will remain in his agricultural position, Beckwith said he has plans in place for Indiana agriculture, including pushing for making Indiana the top agriculture state in the country.

“I’m competitive. I hate losing. I hate being No. 2. I want to be No. 1. Shoot for the stars, you’ll get the moon, but we’re gonna shoot for the stars,” Beckwith said.

Supporting farmers and protecting their land is what Beckwith addressed most with The Statehouse File.

Beckwith said hostile foreign nations like China are “strategically buying land around military bases to spy on us.” However, during the 2024 legislative session, House Bill 1183 became law, barring “foreign adversaries” from owning or leasing farmland in Indiana and specifically around military installations.

As U.S. senator, Braun backed the bill.

“We can’t let our adversaries buy up America one acre at a time: Our food supply and national security depends on it,” Braun told IndyStar last year.

Beckwith said he also believes farmers need to protect their land from wind and solar companies that are trying to buy more room for their windmills and solar panels.

“We’ve got to do something that is meaningful and substantial,” Beckwith said. “Doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s got to be something that is meaningful, and then we can come back next year and try to make it even better.”

Taxes and water are other issues Beckwith said he wants to tackle for farmers in Indiana. Property taxes have risen 26.2% in the last year and a half, he said. On top of that, Beckwith said Indiana has a problem with water resourcing around the state.

“We’ve got to come together with the legislature to figure out some good solutions, and they’re not going to be easy solutions,” Beckwith said. “They’re complicated because you do one thing and it affects eight other things negatively.”

Beckwith said he is hopeful about finding solutions to give farmers a break.

“It’s a long game. … It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And I think that’s what we have to be ready for, but we have got to give farmers some relief now, right?” Beckwith said.

‘There’s got to be a creator’

Before his campaign for lieutenant governor, Beckwith served as executive director of the Indiana Family Action PAC, Indiana state chairman for U.S. Term Limits, and executive director of the Hoosier Leadership Series. He also co-founded Indiana Coalition Conservatives after becoming involved in the Indiana conservative movement.

Beckwith attended Huntington University, where he graduated with a B.A. in business economics. In college, he met his now wife, Susan. Together they have two children, Savannah and Brody.

Since 2010, Beckwith has served at Life Church in Noblesville as worship and campus pastor. He is also a co-host on the podcast “Jesus, Sex and Politics.”

Beckwith said he believes God shows himself and what he’s capable of producing through agriculture. This has been the foundation for his passion for the industry.

“You can see the complexity of a seed falling to the ground, dying, but then producing life—small, little mustard seed creating a huge tree, right? How does that happen? There’s got to be a creator. This is not an accident,” he said.

Beckwith said God has given Earth the resources and climate needed to thrive. He also said he doesn’t believe climate change is an existential threat.

“You gotta prove to me that this is a real threat, and I don’t think climate change has done that,” he said.

He said he believes those who are saying we are experiencing global warming, global cooling and climate change don’t actually know what’s going on.

“I think things like the Green New Deal and climate change, it’s a marketing ploy, … and they get a lot of people to buy into it, and every time they do, somebody’s making a lot of money somewhere, and they’re usually doing it off of the taxpayer back,” Beckwith said.

The concept of climate change is accepted science, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) writing on its website, “By a large majority, climate scientists agree that average global temperature today is warmer than in pre-industrial times and that human activity is the most significant factor.”

Controversies

Beckwith has proven a controversial figure, embracing Christian nationalism, criticizing Democratic candidates for their “Jezebel spirit” and more.

In November, The Statehouse File reported on his threats toward Westfield High School when it uninvited him from speaking to agriculture students after parents complained. Beckwith threatened to defund the school and said the decision was made by a “super far left” principal and superintendent.

Beckwith also threatened The Indiana Daily Student newspaper for publishing an article he didn’t like that was critical of President Donald Trump.

An online group called “Hoosiers Against Micah Beckwith” is run by Earlham College student Reece Axel-Adams and has gained 1,600 members since it began two years ago.

“We should be scared of Micah Beckwith getting anywhere near power,” Axel-Adams told State Affairs.

A big controversy for Beckwith has revolved around his relationship with Braun due to the fact that Braun did not choose him to be his lieutenant governor.

In May 2024, Braun announced his preferred pick to be Rep. Julie McGuire, R-Indianapolis. In previous races, the lieutenant governor has been whomever the governor has selected. This race was different since Beckwith won over the delegate votes for the lieutenant governor race against McGuire, making him Braun’s running mate.

“Micah Beckwith has been traveling the state and meeting delegates for over a year courting their votes, building enthusiasm for his historic candidacy and gaining greater name recognition than state representative Julie McGuire,” Elizabeth A. Bennion, chancellor’s professor of political science at Indiana University South Bend, explained in an email to TheStatehouseFile.com at the time.

“Delegates tend to be more conservative than Republican rank-and-file voters, making an outspoken social conservative like Beckwith attractive to many delegates.”

Braun stated at the Indiana GOP State Convention in June that Beckwith winning was a “bump in the road” and it didn’t change the fact that his name led the ticket, according to Inside Indiana Business.

Beckwith told The Statehouse File he respects Braun and they have a good relationship so far.

“I don’t feel like there’s an ounce of daylight between our team and his team, and I’m excited for the future. I think it’s gonna be a great four years and, Lord willing, many more,” Beckwith said.

“You know, people have told me, like, ‘Why in the world would you ever go into politics?’ … I don’t know why, other than I just was wired for it. Well, why was I wired for it? Because I think God had a purpose for me to do what I’m doing right now.”