Some agriculture experts see ‘danger’ in Trump’s embrace of Kennedy and tariffs: NPR

President-elect Donald Trump won the farm country by wide margins in this month’s election, with rural voters helping to fuel his return to the White House.

But some farmers, economists, analysts and others in the agriculture industry are expressing alarm over Trump’s plans that could disrupt U.S. 1.5 trillion dollar food industry.

Trump moved in the past week to put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the Food and Drug Administration. A nomination requires confirmation by the US Senate.

In a column published Friday, soybean farmer Amanda Zaluckyj called the election “a literal middle finger to agriculture, which made up an important part of Trump’s base.”

Writing in trade magazine Ag Daily, she described Kennedy as “an absolute danger” to the American agricultural industry.

“He has gone so far as to say he would ‘weaponize’ regulators to eliminate the use of pesticides,” Zaluckyj said, adding that Kennedy has “expressed strong opposition to the scientific consensus” on agricultural industry practices.

Zaluckyj is not alone in raising questions about Kennedy’s role. In an essay published in September before Kennedy was named head of HHS, biotech analyst Dana O’Brien described Trump’s “embrace” of Kennedy as “a threat to American agriculture.”

“Trump’s elevation of Kennedy is shocking,” O’Brien wrote in online trade journal Agri-Pulse. “It represents a wholesale shift in policy and agricultural policy.”

Kennedy has a long record of spouting conspiracy theories, including baseless claims that Wi-Fi causes cancer and “brain leaks”; that school shootings can be attributed to antidepressants; and that chemicals in water can lead to children becoming transgender.

Some agriculture experts worry that similar unproven or unscientific views could now reshape US agricultural and food policy.

“His distrust of genetically modified seeds is longstanding and in opposition to thousands of scientific studies,” Blake Hurst, a farmer and former head of Missouri’s Farm Bureau, wrote in journal Agri-Pulse.

Hurst described Trump’s ties to Kennedy as an “unholy alliance.”

Kennedy has long condemned industrial food companies as well as Big Ag trade groups, which he says have fueled an obesity epidemic in the United States while polluting farmland and bankrupting small family farms.

“America’s current ag policy is destroying America’s health at every level,” Kennedy said in a video posted on social media last month.

“Corporate interests have hijacked the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines to make natural, unprocessed foods an afterthought.”

Kennedy calls for restrictions on a host of food additives and dyes. He wants to reduce the dominance of ultra-processed foods; he is being urged to reform 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 X.

According to Trump, under Kennedy’s leadership, “HHS will play a major role in helping to ensure that everyone is protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives.”

Trump’s decision to make Kennedy a major player in US food policy has also drawn support from some farmers.

Sid Miller, a farmer and rancher who serves as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, praised the committee.

“Today, more than two out of five adults and over one out of five children in America are obese,” Miller, a Republican, wrote in an essay posted on the Texas Department of Agriculture’s website.

“This didn’t ‘just’ happen — it’s the result of misguided public policy and corporate influence,” Miller said.

Concern over impact of tariffs on farmers

Kennedy’s nomination is not the only Trump move that is raising concerns among farmers and others in the industry. They are also expressing alarm over Trump’s proposal to impose stiff tariffs on Chinese goods.

ONE study released last month by the National Corn Growers Association found that a tariff-driven trade war with China could cost U.S. soybean and corn farmers as much as $7.3 billion in annual production value.

“This burden is not limited to U.S. soybean and corn farmers, who are losing market share and production value,” the study’s authors predicted. “There is a ripple effect throughout the United States, particularly in rural economies where farmers live, buy inputs, use farm and personal services, and buy household goods.”

Experts say the next indication of how food and agriculture policy will play out over the next four years will come when Trump announces his pick to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The online publication Farm Journal reported that many of the names Trump’s team is considering to lead the Department of Agriculture have deep ties to industrial agriculture.