President Donald Trump signed a regenerative agriculture order after a heated Oval Office exchange involving Robert F. Kennedy Jr., farm advocates and American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A tense Oval Office meeting over pesticide policy exposed a growing split between supporters of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement and major agriculture interests seeking to protect conventional pesticide use, according to a report.
President Donald Trump met Thursday with Kennedy, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall and several farming advocates before signing an executive order intended to promote regenerative agriculture, expand research and encourage alternatives to conventional pesticides, Axios reported.
The meeting came the same day the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the maker of Roundup, a development that frustrated Kennedy’s allies and intensified pressure among MAHA supporters seeking stronger scrutiny of pesticides.
Kennedy told Trump during the meeting that the court’s decision was a major setback for his health-focused movement, according to Axios. He also argued that the executive order could help offset the ruling’s effects by promoting alternatives to conventional pesticides in the food supply and expanding research into their health impacts.
Jonathan Lundgren, a South Dakota farmer and former USDA official, also urged Trump to sign the order. Lundgren told the president that pesticide use is harming farmers’ health.
“One of the take-home messages I really wanted [Trump] to understand is that the farmers were sick right now,” Lundgren told Axios. “We’re literally killing our farmers with these food systems.”
Several other farmers in the meeting reportedly supported Lundgren’s position and spoke in favor of regenerative agriculture. The approach focuses on rebuilding degraded soils through farming practices that may include reducing or avoiding pesticides and synthetic fertilizer, according to the Noble Research Institute.
Duvall pushed back and urged Trump not to sign the order, warning that the move could cost him support among farming interests, Axios reported.
Lundgren described Duvall’s warning to Trump as “shocking” and said the president appeared visibly concerned. Lundgren told Axios that Trump “wanted to understand why Zippy was so worried.”
The discussion escalated further when Duvall clashed with White House Senior Advisor Calley Means, according to Axios. Means reportedly told Duvall it was clear he had not read the executive order, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the meeting.
“It was intense in there,” Lundgren told Axios. “They were arguing. It was back and forth.”
Rollins, who has publicly defended glyphosate and other conventional pesticides, supported Trump signing the order, according to Axios. After additional discussion, Trump signed it. Duvall later said he would support the decision.
Glyphosate is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the United States. Critics have alleged that it can cause certain cancers.
Trump’s Thursday executive order, titled “Advancing Regenerative Agriculture and Strengthening American Farm Resilience,” states that U.S. policy is to “promote continued advances in precision agriculture technologies” and “significantly increase Federal investment in regenerative agriculture practices, research, and education.”
The order follows a separate pesticide-related directive Trump signed in February to expand domestic glyphosate production. That earlier order drew intense backlash from MAHA supporters.
The February executive order said a “lack of access to glyphosate-based herbicides would critically jeopardize agricultural productivity, adding pressure to the domestic food system, and may result in a transition of cropland to other uses due to low productivity.”
The Oval Office dispute illustrates the challenge facing Trump as he seeks to balance Kennedy’s health agenda with the concerns of farm groups that rely on conventional crop protection tools. The final decision to sign the order gave MAHA allies a policy win while leaving unresolved the broader fight over glyphosate, pesticide alternatives and the future of American agriculture.
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