President-elect Donald Trump wants Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to play a major role in U.S. food policy as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Some farmers and agricultural experts worry that Kennedy is spreading unscientific and unproven ideas.
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Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump won this month’s election by a wide margin in farm country, with rural voters helping to lead him back to the White House.
But some farmers, economists, analysts and others in the agriculture sector worry Trump’s plans could disrupt the U.S. economy. A $1.5 trillion food industry.
Trump moved last week to put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the Food and Drug Administration. A nomination requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
In a column published Friday, soybean farmer Amanda Zaluckyj called the choice “a real middle finger to agriculture, which was a key part of Trump’s base.”
Write in the Ag Daily business magazine, she described Kennedy as “an absolute danger” to the American agricultural industry.
“He went so far as to say he would ‘weaponize’ regulatory agencies to eliminate pesticide use,” Zaluckyj said, adding that Kennedy has “expressed strong opposition to the scientific consensus” on pesticide practices. agricultural industry.
Zaluckyj is not the only one to question Kennedy’s role. In an essay published in September, before Kennedy was named head of HHS, biotechnology analyst Dana O’Brien described Trump’s “embrace” of Kennedy as “a threat to American agriculture.”
“Trump’s elevation of Kennedy is chilling,” O’Brien wrote in the online specialist journal Agri-Pulse. “This represents a step change in agricultural policy and politics.”
Kennedy has a long track record express conspiracy theories, including baseless allegations that Wi-Fi causes cancer and “brain leaks”; that school shootings are attributable to antidepressants; and that chemicals in water can cause children to become transgender.
Some agricultural experts fear that similar unproven or unscientific views could now reshape U.S. farm and food policy.
“His distrust of genetically modified seeds is long-standing and at odds with thousands of scientific studies,” wrote Blake Hurst, a farmer and former director of the Missouri Farm Bureau, in the Agri-Pulse magazine.
Hurst described Trump’s ties to Kennedy as an “unholy alliance.”
Kennedy has long condemned industrial food companies as well as Big Ag business groups, which he says have caused an obesity epidemic in the United States while polluting farmland and putting small family farms out of business.
“Current U.S. agricultural policy is destroying America’s health at every level,” Kennedy said in a statement. video posted on social networks last month.
“Corporate interests have hijacked the USDA dietary guidelines to overshadow natural, unprocessed foods.”
Kennedy calls for restrictions on a multitude of food additives and colorings. He wants to reduce the predominance of ultra-processed foods; he called for reforming the SNAP food assistance program — formerly known as food stamps.
In appointing Kennedy to head one of the nation’s most powerful food regulatory agencies, Trump seemed to embrace this vision: “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex. » Trump said on social media platform.
According to Trump, under Kennedy’s leadership, “HHS will play an important role in ensuring that everyone is protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives.”
Trump’s decision to make Kennedy a major player in U.S. food policy also drew support from some farmers.
Sid Miller, a farmer and rancher who serves as Texas agriculture commissioner, praised the selection.
“Today, more than two in five adults and more than one in five children in America are obese,” Miller, a Republican, wrote in an essay posted on the Texas Department of Agriculture website.
“This is not a coincidence: it is the result of misguided public policy and corporate influence,” Miller said.
Concerns over impact of tariffs on farmers
Kennedy’s nomination is not the only move by Trump that is causing concern among farmers and others in the industry. They also worry about Trump’s proposal to impose harsh tariffs on Chinese goods.
A study released last month by the National Corn Growers Association found that a trade war with China based on tariffs could cost U.S. soybean and corn producers up to $7.3 billion in annual production value.
“This burden is not limited to U.S. soybean and corn producers, who are losing market share and the value of their production,” the study authors predict. “There is a ripple impact across the United States, particularly in rural economies where farmers live, purchase inputs, use agricultural and personal services, and purchase household items.”
Experts say the next indication of how food and agriculture policy will evolve over the next four years will come when Trump announces his choice to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The online publication Agricultural Journal reported that many of the names being considered by Trump’s team to lead the Agriculture Department have deep ties to industrial agriculture.