MAHA Report 2.0 Gets A Thumbs Up From Farmer Groups And Industry

The Department of Health and Human Services released its action strategy to address children’s health from its Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission on Tuesday.

This is the second installment of the MAHA report – a highly anticipated follow-up to the report released by the Commission in May. Many farm organizations had said the original document was filled with “fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides.”

The latest report offers more than 120 initiatives that will serve as a road map to help address and resolve what Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described as “America’s escalating health crisis, with a focus on childhood chronic diseases.”

Among the initiatives, the second report is calling for better nutrition, more physical activity and the need to address environmental health factors to improve children’s health.

Regarding environmental health, the report stops short of calling for restrictions on pesticide use. Instead, the report recommends collaboration with the agriculture industry to identify “precision agricultural techniques” that can help farmers reduce their use of crop-protection products.

“Together with our partners at HHS and EPA, we are charting a new course, strengthening the health of our families, and ensuring the United States leads the world with the safest, strongest, and most abundant food supply,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, in a statement about the report.

As examples, Rollins referenced the removal of artificial food dye from major brands, providing technical assistance to states interested in restricting junk food and soda from SNAP, and providing farmers with new tools to maintain and improve soil health, including the introduction of a regenerative farming practice pilot program.

Farm Groups Weigh In With Their Perspective

The 20-page report was met with varying degrees of approval and feedback from U.S. farm organizations.

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) said the latest report appears to be a reasonable and science-based approach for achieving its objectives.

“We are encouraged that when the commission engaged with agricultural stakeholders and followed the science, it reaffirmed what we already know: EPA is the appropriate agency for regulating crop inputs,” Kenneth Hartman Jr., NCGA president, said in a statement. “We are also delighted to see precision agriculture, soil health and land stewardship prioritized, as these are areas in which corn farmers have led the way for many years.”

The American Soybean Association (ASA) expressed cautious optimism about the report with some caveats.

“Soybean farmers are thankful the MAHA Commission recognized EPA’s approval process as the global gold standard,” said Caleb Ragland, ASA president, in a statement. “Between the May report and today’s strategy, the Commission was accessible and open to learning more about modern farming practices. We truly felt like we had a seat at the table, and for that, we are incredibly appreciative.”

However, the statement from ASA said the organization remains concerned about the misinformed rhetoric from some Commission members around edible soybean oil. “We urge careful consideration of any upcoming rulemakings that could negatively impact U.S. farmers and the public,” ASA said.

A Focus On Collaboration For Crop Protection

The MAHA strategy report offers the crop protection industry some degree of a reprieve, according to Callie Eideberg, a policy expert and principal at The Vogel Group, an international government affairs and consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C.

“We saw…an effort to educate the public about the EPA and their processes that they use to approve chemicals,” Eideberg told AgDay TV’s Clinton Griffith on Tuesday.

“We saw a partnership with the private sector to focus chemical applications in a very precise way. I think, overall, the chemical industry in the agricultural space is probably doing cartwheels right now because they could have faced some really tough questions and some tough recommendations. But this report, at least the way I read it, is not making major changes or really any changes at all to how agricultural chemicals are regulated by the federal government,” Eideberg said.

Her message was similarly echoed by the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA):

”ARA commends the MAHA Commission for its common-sense, forward-thinking recommendations related to agricultural innovations and environmental stewardship. This report recognizes the importance of essential tools needed for America’s production agriculture using innovative precision ag technologies and other innovations,” said Daren Coppock, ARA president and CEO.

Report Recognizes The Nutritional Value Of Meat

Eideberg said she is pleased to see the approach the strategy report is taking to resolve issues laid out in the initial report through a large emphasis on education and awareness.

“Whether that is in nutrition and health or the pesticide industry, education and awareness are a big emphasis of this report, and we also saw a big push for deregulation,” Eideberg said. “The deregulation options in this report are primarily focused on smaller meat and dairy processors, which has been a big concern in [those industries] for a while. But I think those folks are going to really like what they see in this report.”

The Meat Institute noted that the latest report “is a good first step toward recognizing the nutritional value of meat and poultry after years of misguided policies attacking meat consumption.”

Farm Journal’s Drovers and Pork Business editors highlighted feedback on the MAHA strategy details from their respective industry leaders in separate reports.

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