Organic farmers expose RFK Jr.'s delusion
Turns out you can't "Make America Healthy Again" when the fossil fuel industry calls the shots.
Last October, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood in front of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and promised that Donald Trump would reform America’s corporate-controlled, synthetic chemical-laden agricultural system.
“When Donald Trump gets me in the building I’m standing outside of right now, it won’t be this way anymore,” Kennedy said. In a bid for campaign donations, he pledged to rid the current food system of “chemicals, herbicides, and insecticides,” and replace it with one that favored small, regenerative, organic farms.
I’m as crunchy and health-conscious as the next lefty millennial, so the content of the promise never bothered me much. What bothered me was that Kennedy was asking people to believe something delusional: that Donald Trump would do something bad for the fossil fuel industry. Industrial agriculture is one of Big Oil’s largest and most lucrative markets. Most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are made from fossil fuels. During the campaign, Trump promised to give the fossil fuel industry anything it wanted in exchange for massive campaign donations—which it gave. So how could Trump possibly “Make America Healthy Again” while committed to a “Drill Baby, Drill” agenda? How does that make any sense?
Obviously it doesn’t. But Kennedy convinced millions it did. And now organic farmers are paying the price.
Last week, one of New York’s largest organic farming organizations sued the USDA, claiming the Trump administration is illegally putting their operations at risk at the critical beginning of the growing season.
