'Too meek to push back': Farmers sound alarm over MAHA agenda

In an article published Monday in The New York Times Monday, journalist Eoin Higgins spotlighted the growing disillusionment among small-scale American farmers with the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Higgins outlined a once-promising political alignment when farmers, grappling with razor-thin margins, rallied behind President Donald Trump’s economic pledges and were further energized by Kennedy’s health-focused MAHA movement. They hoped the movement would dovetail with efforts to expand fresh, healthy food availability.

Yet beneath the optimism, Higgins noted, lies serious unease.

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The journalist reported that Kennedy’s approach, marked by skepticism toward traditional industrial farming tools like pesticides, along with cuts to key agricultural support programs, is causing alarm among farmers.

His recently released MAHA Commission report, rife with false or misleading citations, has only deepened the rift, per Higgins.

The article noted that confidence in Kennedy among early backers is plummeting.

From his vantage in rural America, Higgins said he’s heard a consistent note of criticism from farmers.

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Many label Kennedy’s posture as hypocritical. They think that despite his commitment to healthy agriculture, he’s failed to oppose internal administration policies that harm rural communities.

"His unwillingness to stand up to policies within his own administration that undermine American farmers suggests, to them, that he is either too meek to push back or disingenuous about his commitment to his goals," Higgins wrote.

Higgins conveyed that this behavior suggests to farmers that MAHA may be more about preserving Kennedy’s political relevance than enacting genuine change.

One voice Higgins highlighted in the piece is that of Will Westmoreland, a farmer in Polk County, Missouri, who also operates a Democratic-aligned political strategy firm.

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Westmoreland said, “He [RFK Jr.] owes a lot to the president and the administration for even putting him into this role to begin with... I think that causes him not to speak out because he doesn’t want to rock the boat.”

Westmoreland, while not opposed to MAHA’s core mission on healthy food, conveyed frustration, saying: “There are a lot more effective voices out there for better agriculture, better food and better policies for rural America than him.”