New Great Salt Lake commissioner under fire for alfalfa-promoting hats
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Hannah Freeze, appointed by Gov. Spencer Cox last week as the new Great Salt Lake commissioner, is facing criticism for previously selling hats with "Make alfalfa great again" emblazoned above the bills.
Friction point: Alfalfa is broadly considered one of the biggest threats to the dwindling Great Salt Lake, which Freeze is now in charge of preserving.
Context: Alfalfa and other hay farming account for most of the water diverted from the lake but represent less than 1% of Utah's GDP — and most of it is shipped outside Utah.
- In a study last year, researchers from multiple western universities called for a 61% reduction in alfalfa production, describing the reduction as "essential to saving the Great Salt Lake."
Between the lines: Cox himself owns an alfalfa farm in Fairview.
Catch up quick: Freeze sold the hats for $20 apiece, per a Facebook post in August 2024, when she was running the state agriculture department's water optimization program.
- It's unclear whether she still is selling the hats.
What they're saying: The hats were made "as a way to correct misinformation around alfalfa and bring attention to its value in being part of the solution to many water issues facing the state," Morgan Keller, spokesperson for Freeze, told Axios in a statement.
- It's unclear which misinformation the hats corrected.
- Asked whether Freeze intended to pursue any more aggressive approaches to reduce agricultural water use, Keller wrote that "a significant amount of work has taken place" to encourage farmers to voluntarily lease water and optimize its use.
The latest: Photos of the hats have circulated on social media in recent days, prompting reactions like:
- "Is this a joke to them?"
- "As the new Great Salt Lake Commissioner, you do realize growing alfalfa and selling it to foreign countries is equivalent to removing water out of the Great Salt Lake and selling it to foreign countries for personal gain?"
- "This is the person responsible for heading up the operation to save the GSL???? Why didn't they go full MAGA and make the stupid hats red?"
The other side: "I am a farmer. These are my people, if you will," Freeze told ABC 4 in an interview following her appointment last week.