Three Key Takeaways:
- RFK Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins launched the “Farmers First Agenda,” aimed at reducing the regulatory burden on farmers, lowering food prices, and making healthy, natural food more accessible to Americans.
- The initiative targets the return of whole milk to schools, addressing outdated nutritional guidelines, and aims to support traditional farming methods that focus on fresh, local food while combating the rise of large agricultural conglomerates.
- With a focus on fixing broken supply chains and revitalizing rural America, the “Farmers First Agenda” seeks to leverage America’s natural resources and farming expertise to restore the country as a global leader in food production.
Donald Trump’s administration is making unprecedented moves to reconnect Americans with real food.
And one of his most controversial Cabinet picks is leading the charge.
And RFK Jr. threw a lifeline to hard-working farmers with this game-changing move.
“Farmers First Agenda” launches to revitalize rural America
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins are joining forces to bring farm-fresh food directly to American families and schools.
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) just unveiled their “Farmers First Agenda” aimed at lowering production costs for farmers, reducing food prices for consumers, and making healthy, natural food more accessible to everyday Americans.
This bold initiative comes at a crucial time when many farmers are drowning in red tape and regulations while Americans increasingly wonder what’s actually in the food they’re eating.
Kip Tom, who served as Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and now serves as vice-chair of the “Farmers First Agenda,” told Fox News Digital that farmers nationwide are embracing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.
“Farmers from across the country have been talking about the MAHA movement and they embrace it,” Tom said.
“Today we have many choices at the grocery stores, more than we’ve ever had since when I was a child, but we need to make sure consumers understand the benefits of putting more red meat, more dairy, more vegetables and fruits into our diet,” he added.
Regulations choking American farmers
While Kennedy has been a fierce critic of certain agricultural practices, he’s found common ground with traditional farmers on the excessive regulatory burden they face.
Ambassador Tom didn’t mince words when discussing the problem: “The regulations we have in this country have become very burdensome for the U.S. consumer and the farmers.”
The regulations are so extensive that they’re making it nearly impossible for small family farms to survive, driving consolidation and corporate control over our food supply.
Fifth-generation farmer and Kentucky Agricultural Commissioner Jonathan Shell voiced similar frustrations about the current state of agriculture in America.
“Right now, red tape and bad trade deals make it harder for us to get our food onto school lunch trays and family dinner tables,” Shell told Fox News Digital.
The proof is in the numbers. Over the past three decades, America has lost more than 100,000 family farms while massive agricultural conglomerates have grown larger and more powerful.
Bringing back whole milk and real food
One of the first targets in this healthy food revolution? Getting whole milk back into schools.
For years, misguided nutritional guidelines banned whole milk from school cafeterias based on outdated science about saturated fat. Children were instead served sugar-laden skim milk that many wouldn’t drink.
“When we think about bringing farm-fresh foods into our school systems across the country, it should be everywhere . . . It starts out with probably whole milk. It starts out [by] making sure we have access to fruits and vegetables that are fresh,” said Tom.
This approach is being embraced by farmers like Dana Cavalea, owner of Freedom Farms, who told Fox News Digital that more people are wanting to “get back to finding out where their food comes from.”
Cavalea described the difference when his family began eating meat he produced himself: “The color was different. The flavor was different. The taste profile was different. And then we said, ‘Well, what have we been eating all of these years?'”
America’s agricultural renaissance
The “Farmers First Agenda” aims to leverage America’s natural advantages to reclaim our position as the world’s premier food producer.
“We have the largest mass of quality, high-quality farmland in the United States. We have nearly 14,000 miles of navigable waterways,” Ambassador Tom pointed out.
These natural resources, combined with American innovation and know-how, position the country to lead a global agricultural renaissance if the regulatory burden is addressed.
Shell, who owns and operates Shell Farms and Greenhouses with his father in Kentucky, expressed confidence in American farmers’ abilities: “We’ve got the land, the know-how and the heart to feed this country. Farmers and ranchers across America are ready to grow and raise what our communities need — fresh fruits, vegetables and good, local meat.”
The initiative also aims to fix broken supply chains that were exposed during the pandemic when grocery store shelves sat empty while farmers had to dump milk and destroy crops.
Ambassador Tom said that fixing the supply chain and supporting innovation is key to making America the primary supplier of the world’s food, fiber and energy systems again.
“We need to create a renaissance again [so that] farmers have the opportunity to leverage those tools that our forefathers set us up for in the beginning,” he said.
