Letter: RFK Jr's policies threaten the ag industry | Opinion - nwestiowa.com

To The REVIEW:

Each election season, politicians across the political spectrum come to Iowa searching for the pulse of America. They come proclaiming their support for farmers and their love of America in a way that seems to understand how farming is the backbone of our nation. But recently, while President Donald Trump has expressed his strong support for farmers, some in the administration — in particular, secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are considering actions that would hurt us.

Bankruptcies are spiking and families are fearing losing the land they’ve farmed for generations. President Trump’s announcement of the latest government support for farmers is a relief. However temporary it may be, this funding will be a lifeline that keeps many struggling farmers in business. But there’s a growing number of Make America Healthy Again voices that are hurting not only farmers, but all Americans.

Members of the MAHA movement have made misinformed claims against seed oils and celebrate their “victory” in pressure campaigns to replace corn syrup with foreign sugar. Yet, common sense — in addition to all leading scientific bodies — tell us that there is no health benefit difference between the two forms of sweeteners for our foods.

Enforcing this change in the market will translate to American farmers losing major domestic buyers, while demand for sweeteners will be met by imports of foreign cane sugar.

Additionally, influencer campaigns have pushed to replace seed oils with other options higher in saturated fats. The change may offer a different taste, but it’s simply bad health advice, as the American Heart Association indicates.

Bad advice isn’t just making the rounds on TV, social media, and everyday conversations, it is also creating uncertain policies. In particular, the latest national dietary guidelines lack the solid evidence needed to keep people healthy and rebuild trust in science. We’ve already seen President Trump express concern about previous priorities of RFK Jr.’s.

Furthermore, with new requirements of restaurants to identify when seed oils are used in food preparation, states like Louisiana and Texas are feeding into conspiracy thinking, suggesting that our food producers are a threat to public health.

Policies are also hitting consumers’ wallets. In Texas, households will pay an estimated $2,200 more annually as a result of stringent rules requiring products to show warnings claiming certain ingredients are “not recommended for human consumption” in other countries. The labels will be shown even though many of the ingredients in question are frequently used in many of those countries.

Misinformed ideas in health policy are facing growing skepticism from the health and scientific community, and will impact all Americans. New “reforms,” which aren’t prioritizing robust science, inevitably lead to higher prices on grocery store shelves and hurt the American farmer.

It's disheartening to see new food policy proposals that stray away from the president’s goal of supporting the ag community that end up targeting and disrupting opportunities for farmers. Washington bureaucrats like Kennedy should leave the decision to the consumers and the farmers to allow us to choose what we want to eat and what we can do with our crops, instead of dictating what we can and cannot do.

The American consumer would be better served by Sec. Kennedy and the MAHA movement by educating the public, especially the younger generations about healthy nutritional choices and exercise. We will not overcome our national health challenges by attacking and overregulating the American farmers that produce the safest, most affordable and abundant food supply in the world.

We need to make it clear to Washington that they are taking America’s heartland for granted, and it will be critical for national policymakers to end this overregulation.

Jim Boyer

Owner and Operator,

Boyer Farms

Ringsted