Trump Issues Executive Order Backing Regenerative Agriculture

The order, issued Thursday ostensibly in support of regenerative agriculture, adds no funding to federal initiatives.

“My administration is committed to further actions that support farmers and ranchers as they seek to adopt these practices,” Trump wrote.

The news comes as Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters reckoned with a Supreme Court decision siding with pesticide giant Bayer in a case related to the cancer risks of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. The Trump administration had backed Bayer’s case in court.

In the order, Trump calls on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prioritize reviews of pesticides that “can be used as alternatives to older active ingredients.”

He also ordered research into a controversial practice where pesticides are sprayed on crops to dry them out just before harvest and also pushed for a research challenge related to cumulative exposure to chemicals in the food supply.

The latter two items had already been announced by the administration in February and included $200 million in funding.

The order also directs the secretary of Agriculture to expand the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Regenerative Pilot Program, an initiative first announced in December.

Without new funding, it’s unclear what that expansion could look like, although the order mentions creating “public-private partnerships that can bring new capacity to producers interested in adopting regenerative practices.”

The Regenerative Pilot Program integrates “whole-farm” planning into existing conservation programs that pay farmers to implement practices like planting cover crops and reducing tillage.

While it’s positive to see the administration encouraging regenerative agriculture, said Jesse Womack, a conservation policy specialist at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, there is no clear commitment of new funding.