Farmers Express Profound Concern Over MAHA Commission Report

WASHINGTON — Wide swaths of America’s agriculture community are expressing profound concern over a White House report issued by the Make America Healthy Again Commission that they say unjustly vilified farmers, blaming them for a variety of health ills.

“It is deeply troubling for the White House to endorse a report that sows seeds of doubt and fear about our food system and farming practices, then attempts to celebrate farmers and the critical role they play in producing the safest food supply in the world,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. 

The report, kept under wraps until its release last Thursday at an event in the White House East Room, is unsparing in its description of how today’s children are “the sickest generation in American History” in terms of chronic disease.

And it largely reflects Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s view that “preventable” factors, including poor diet, accumulation of environmental toxins, insufficient physical activity, chronic stress and overmedicalization, are driving the health crisis.

“These preventable trends continue to worsen each year, posing a threat to our nation’s health, economy and military readiness,” the report says. 

While the report hails American farmers for feeding the world, and increasing U.S. life expectancy “by more than 30 years compared to 1900,” it says the same innovations that have made that possible “have also introduced threats to our health and revealed growing inefficiencies in our ability to respond to them.”

“Following World War II, much of Europe and Asia’s agricultural system was destroyed, and the United States responded by increasing its agricultural output through mechanization, synthetic fertilizers, industrial-scale farming, and shelf-stable processing techniques to feed the world,” the report says.

Now, it continues, practices that have long fallen within government guidelines and been perfectly legal, are leading to things like long-term exposure to pesticide residues, and playing a significant role in health outcomes, particularly, in the childhood chronic disease epidemic.

Among the report’s findings on the health front: 

• More than one in five children over 6 years old are obese. This is a more than 270% increase compared to the 1970s.
• Prevalence of pre-diabetes in teens is more than one in four teens, having more than doubled over the last two decades.
• Childhood cancer incidence has risen over nearly 40% since 1975, especially in children aged 0-19.
• Autism spectrum disorder impacts one in 31 children by age 8.
• Teenage depression rates nearly doubled from 2009 to 2019, and with more than one in four teenage girls in 2022 reporting a major depressive episode in the past year.
• Three million high school students seriously considered suicide in 2023.
• Between 1997 and 2018, childhood food‑allergy prevalence rose 88%.

“The cumulative load of thousands of synthetic chemicals that our children are exposed to through the food they eat, the water they drink, and the air they breathe may pose risks to their long-term health, including neurodevelopmental and endocrine effects,” the report says at one point. 

It notes at another that there are more than 40,000 chemicals registered for use in the U.S. and that “pesticides, microplastics, and dioxins are commonly found in the blood and urine of American children and pregnant women — some at alarming levels.”

The report goes on like that for 73 pages, on the one hand implying links between ill health and  industrial-scale farming and pesticides, and on the other, saying, “The greatest step the United States can take to reverse childhood chronic disease is to put whole foods produced by American farmers and ranchers at the center of health care.”

The reality is, it could have been worse, from an agricultural perspective.

Even at its unveiling, talk in the audience centered on disputes over wording between representatives of the departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Among the concerns was that the American public would come to believe the nation’s food supply is compromised, and that even federal agencies would be opened up to potential liability.

Among the items reportedly cut at the last minute were references to the corporate agricultural giant Monsanto and corporate lobbying on everything from food labeling to so-called “forever” chemicals.

Among the things that most troubled Duvall was the fact that while farmers were repeatedly identified in the report’s pages as “critical partners,” they were excluded from its development — even after several requests for a seat at the table.

“The report also expresses a desire to ensure farmers continue to thrive, but undermining confidence in our food system directly contradicts that noble goal,” the Farm Bureau president said. 

“The report spotlights outlier studies and presents unproven theories that feed a false narrative and only then does it acknowledge a mountain of evidence about the safety of our food system,” he said.

“We suspect USDA had a prominent role in the report’s recognition that farmers are the critical first step in the food system, but as a whole, the report falls short,” Duvall continued. “The American people were promised transparency yet presented with a report developed in secret.

“As a farmer myself, I can confidently say that farmers and ranchers share the goal of improving health outcomes in America. They’re dedicated to continuous improvement, guided by sound science and technological advances,” he added.

Despite the report’s more than 70 pages of “contradictory assertion,” Duvall ended his written statement with an olive branch, saying he’s looking forward to “further discussions with administration officials,” he said.

Duane Stateler, a pork producer from McComb, Ohio, who is also president of the National Pork Producers Council, also took issue with lack of transparency in the formulation of the report.

“Efforts that not only exclude agriculture’s input, but also undermine the work of farmers serving our nation, are misguided and detrimental to all who care about facts and truth,” Stateler said. 

“Inflammatory rhetoric and distortions, meant to galvanize attention to achieve particular ideological outcomes, are harmful and undermine the world-class safety and reliability of the American food system. We urge extreme caution and recognize this as a moment for leadership that not only fosters and maintains trust in the foods we consume but also defends farmers against unwarranted and unfounded attacks,” he said.

Alan Meadows, director of the American Soybean Association, took aim at the report’s actual contents, calling the analysis “brazenly unscientific” and “damaging to consumer confidence.”

“Should the administration act on the report — which was drafted entirely behind closed doors — it will harm U.S. farmers, increase food costs for consumers, and worsen health outcomes for all Americans. ASA calls on President Trump, who has long been a friend of farmers, to step in and correct the commission’s deeply misguided report,” he said.

Of particular concern to the Soybean Association’s membership are recommendations in the report that they argue “are not at all grounded in science and seem to advance the agenda of food elitists and activist groups that have long sought to undermine U.S. agriculture.” 

“These developments are even more troubling after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely assured members of Congress earlier in the week of the report’s release that, ‘there is not a single word in [the report] that should worry the American farmer,’” the group said in a statement.

Meadows said he, the association’s farmer board, and even members of Congress “tried to warn the administration that activist groups were trying to hijack the MAHA Commission to advance their long-standing goal of harming U.S. farmers. 

“Reading this report, it appears that is exactly what has happened,” he said.

Among other things, the commission’s report suggests glyphosate, atrazine and other pesticides essential to farmers are potential contributors to a wide array of health ailments.

“Activist organizations and trial lawyers are already engaged in baseless lawfare on pesticides. By bizarrely, without reason, singling out two specific pesticides, the administration has offered activists a gift on a silver platter,” Meadows said.

“It is sad — and downright unjust — that, because of this one unfounded report, decisions will be made by judges and in the court of public opinion that should be made [by regulators], based on years and reams of credible science and research.”

Soybean Association members are also disturbed by the report’s implying that seed oils are contributors to reduced human health.

“Significant research conducted over decades shows that plant-based oils are low in saturated fats and can improve health outcomes,” the group said. “For example, a March 2025 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association found after following more than 220,000 individuals for more than 30 years that frequent consumption of plant-based oils led to a 16% reduction in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other ailments when compared to alternatives high in saturated fat.

“This is truly a case of saying up is down and down is up,” Meadows said. “We’re discouraging people from consuming heart-healthy oils and driving them to instead use fats that will make them less healthy and cost them more in the process. This is the exact opposite of what our government should be doing.”

The National Corn Growers Association was also upset by the report’s “unfounded questions about the safety of pesticides … like atrazine and glyphosate.”

“U.S. farmers consistently raise abundant crops that provide consumers reliable, low-cost access to food,” said Krista Swanson, an Illinois farmer who serves as the association’s chief economist.

“One of the central tenets to producing crops is the control of pests that, when left unchecked, can reduce corn yields by up to 70%. Pesticides are one tool that farmers use to control pests, the safety and efficacy of which have been repeatedly tested and documented for decades,” Swanson said.

She also pointed to a 2023 study that showed glyphosate has enabled farmers to pursue conservation practices that have resulted in several environmental gains, including: 22% reduction in sediment loss, 19% reduction in water use for irrigation, 16% reduction in soil erosion from wind, 13% reduction in soil erosion from water, 1.2 million tons fewer carbon emissions from farm machinery, and 32.5 million additional tons of carbon equivalents captured by farmland soil.

“Without continued access to pesticides that protect against devastating pests, U.S. farms and ranches would quickly become economically unsustainable, jeopardizing U.S. farmers’ ability to provide affordable food and other agricultural products to consumers,” she added, quoting from the report.

Pat Clements, president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, also weighed in with his membership’s “deep concerns” about the content and implications of the MAHA Commission’s report.

“Throughout the process, the National Association of Wheat Growers and other agricultural stakeholders have worked in good faith to provide the commission with accurate, science-based information about modern food production practices in the United States,” Clements said. 

“Wheat growers are proud stewards of the land and are committed to producing safe, healthy food for families here at home and around the world. Unfortunately, the report contains misleading claims that could undermine public trust in our nation’s food system,” he said.

“We urge the Trump administration to ensure that the MAHA Commission’s future work is guided by sound science and peer-reviewed research. American consumers deserve facts — not fear — when it comes to how their food is grown and produced,” Clements added.

For his part, Trump seemed to want to stay clear of the brewing controversy on Thursday, declaring during the East Room ceremony that “we have the greatest farmers in the world.”

“We love our farmers, and we want to pay respect to our farmers and we always will,” he said.

Now that the commission’s report is out, it has 82 days to produce the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy based on the study’s findings, Kennedy said.

“The National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will act swiftly to close research gaps and drive decisive action against the escalating childhood chronic disease crisis,” the panel said in a press release.

“We will end the childhood chronic disease crisis by attacking its root causes head-on — not just managing its symptoms,” Kennedy said at the East Room gathering.

“We will follow the truth wherever it leads, uphold rigorous science, and drive bold policies that put the health, development and future of every child first. I’m grateful to President Trump for his leadership — and for trusting me to lead this fight to root out corruption, restore scientific integrity, and reclaim the health of our children,” he said.

On Thursday, the White House said it will fix errors in the report after the news organization NOTUS found that a number of the studies it bases its claims on do not actually exist.

Asked about the report’s problems on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the report will be updated.

“I understand there were some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated,” Leavitt told reporters during her briefing. “But it does not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government.”

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue