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With Donald Trump set to return to the White House in January, the question of what this means for organic hinges on one single question:
How much power will Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. be given over the USDA?
While it was floated in recent weeks that he would have “little chance” of Congressional approval for a cabinet-level post, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said otherwise this morning on CNN and that the Senate would have “great deference” for the incoming president.
With Donald Trump recently proclaiming that he would let Kennedy “go wild on the food,” the former and newly elected president reiterated his support for Kennedy and his key objective “to help make America healthy again” last night in his acceptance speech.
Not only is Kennedy acutely aware of the dangers of glyphosate, as he played an active role in suing Monsanto in California during his time as an environmental lawyer, but he has been very clear about his disdain for the chemical industry and what it has done to the American heartland, stating that farmers in Iowa and Kansas are unable to drink from their own wells due to contamination.
Furthermore, Kennedy also has said that he aims to “transform our agricultural system to get pesticides out of our food supply” and develop a system of “organic, regenerative agriculture” in the country.
As reported by Politico, some of the nation’s largest farm groups, aware of the problems that Kennedy may cause, have been taking a proactive approach. They sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committee expressing concern about “significant misunderstandings” as they relate to common farming practices, such as the use of pesticides and GMOs.
These groups know that the climate in Washington, D.C., in addition to consumers’ growing awareness and distrust of the food we are being fed, is vastly different this time around.
In 2017, when Donald Trump first took office, they believed that it would be business as usual and benefitted greatly when Sonny Perdue was tapped to lead the USDA, with pesticide lobbyists directly influencing U.S. policies, among many other things.
In 2025, Big Food and Big Chemical will be facing — probably for the first time ever — a White House senior advisor in Kennedy who not only has an antagonistic history toward toxic pesticides but is a proponent of both “organic” and “regenerative.”
When it comes to the more granular issues of our industry, Organic Insider can report that a senior policy advisor to Kennedy has been briefed on the specific challenges that organic faces; namely, a lack of enforcement of the rules when it comes to hydroponics and factory farms.
Fortunately, given that Section 6513 the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, as ratified by Congress, already contains language that requires farms to have a management plan that “fosters soil fertility,” enforcement of the statute is all that is needed. Kennedy could work to make this a reality, as well as help to reform other areas of the National Organic Program, such as the corporate takeover of the National Organic Standards Board.
Whether Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is truly empowered to bring about positive change to organic and agriculture, as a whole, is something we will know in just a few short months.
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With gratitude, 
Max Goldberg, Founder |
Gov. Josh Shapiro announced a $3M Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program investment in Folkland Foods, which allow it to transition more acreage to organic farming and create up to 50 new local jobs.
Consumer interest in better-for-you snacking and struggles in plant-based meat alternatives could make these sectors attractive for dealmaking, the bank cooperative noted.
Called the Organic Dairy Product Promotion Program, its goal is to increase consumption of organic dairy among children and young adults while building partnerships with local organic producers.
Alongside agricultural leaders and stakeholders, OFRF hosted Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Jimmy Panetta for a field day visit to the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Salinas station.
Among other things voted on and discussed, there was significant conversation about residue testing of imported organic livestock feedstuffs, which is leading to a proposal at the spring meeting.
After years of being detected at alarming levels, the herbicide glyphosate is being found at lower levels, on average, in cereal and other oat-based products, according to tests by the Environmental Working Group.
Neonicotinoids coat nearly all the corn and soybean seeds available for planting. Agrichemical companies have designed it that way.
Researchers at Kansas State University have also gained a new understanding of the role of different minerals, chemicals, and microbes involved in soil carbon storage.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service Market News recently expanded its collection and distribution of price and production cost information by adding organic milk, cattle, grains and feedstuffs, and fertilizer to its list of published reports.
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