For years, Colorado Democrat Manny Rutinel, the Democratic nominee in the state's competitive Eighth Congressional District, introduced himself to media outlets and environmental activists as the CEO of Climate Refarm, "a company leveraging carbon markets to pay food providers to switch to plant-based options."
Rutinel said Climate Refarm, which he cofounded in May 2022, incentivized institutions like schools and hospitals to move away from "carbon-intensive meat products towards more sustainable plant-based options" by getting large corporations to fund the transition through carbon credits. Just weeks after he registered the firm using the address of his Commerce City Apartment, he caught the attention of the "plant-based media" outlet Unchained TV, which interviewed Rutinel about Climate Refarm from the 2022 Animal & Vegan Advocacy Summit and called him an "incredible hero here in the animal rights world." A year later, at the 2023 Reducetarian Summit, an annual vegan conference, Rutinel introduced himself as Climate Refarm's chief executive and said he had "a few pilot projects underway in Asia."
Rutinel's financial disclosures from his time as a Colorado state legislator tell a different story. They suggest the company never made it off the ground.
In 2023, Rutinel's first full year as CEO, Rutinel reported earning between $1,000 and $15,000 from Climate Refarm. That dropped to as low as $0 the next year. Climate Refarm was absent from his filing covering 2025, though he didn't withdraw its business registration with the Colorado secretary of state until August of that year, suggesting the company was dormant after just two years. Climate Refarm's website also suggests that the firm's staff never grew beyond Rutinel and two other cofounders.
Rutinel nonetheless placed Climate Refarm at the center of his résumé—even while serving in the Colorado House. The 2023 Reducetarian Summit, for example, took place two weeks after Rutinel was appointed to the state legislature, something he never mentioned in his address. Earlier that year, Rutinel presented alongside university faculty at a UC Santa Cruz academic workshop titled "Catalyzing Private Financial Markets for Climate Solutions." The university identified him only as "Manny Rutinel, Climate Refarm."
Rutinel has since distanced himself from Climate Refarm, excluding it from his bios, campaign website, and LinkedIn page. The omissions, however, aren't because of the company's lack of activity but rather because its mission is not aligned with the economy of Colorado's eighth district, where farming and ranching generates more than $1 billion each year.
Rutinel, a former vegan, has said while campaigning against Republican congressman Gabe Evans that he now eats meat and supports the district's oil and gas industry. He's also presented himself, misleadingly, as a "bipartisan" state legislator who pushed to increase police funding. When Rutinel joined the legislature in 2023, however, he presented Climate Refarm as his primary focus.
It's not the first time Rutinel, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment, has inflated his work as an environmental activist only to downplay that work while running for Congress. During an October 2024 animal law conference, Rutinel said he "co-teach[es] an animal law course" at the University of Denver's Animal Law Program, which is tied to accused ecoterrorists and listed Rutinel as a fellow. A campaign spokesman later told the Free Beacon that Rutinel only "guest lectured," and the program's annual report suggests he only spoke at one session.
Before launching Climate Refarm, Rutinel worked as an attorney for the left-wing environmental group Earthjustice. He boasted just months before launching his congressional campaign that his "entire" job as an Earthjustice attorney was to "take on large meat corporations and sue them for all they're worth." He now leaves his Earthjustice tenure off his biographies and calls himself a "friend" to ranchers.
Rutinel's time as Climate Refarm's "chief executive" came as he disclosed nearly $230,000 in student loans while serving in the state legislature. All 13 of his loans increased between 2023 and 2025, according to his financial disclosures. The only income listed in those filings are Rutinel's roughly $50,000 salary as a part-time state legislator, plus $15,000 in 2023 for his University of Denver fellowship. A promotion to Congress would give him a substantial raise, more than triple what he made in the State House.
Bizarre developments surrounded Climate Refarm just before Rutinel withdrew its business registration with the Colorado secretary of state in August 2025. Its website was completely overhauled a month earlier, and someone named Ashton Barkman—later described as Climate Refarm's founder—began writing blog posts pertaining to Sydney, Australia. Barkman has no other internet presence, and the website's About page doesn't provide any work experience or educational background.
It's unclear if Rutinel has any ties to Barkman or if he sold the naming rights or web domain—its owner is obscured.
