continued on page 8 ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER COVER STORY 7 “The American Soybean Association called the [MAHA] report “brazenly unscientific and damaging to consumer confidence in America’s safe, reliable food system.” DOGE CUTS IMPACT AGRICULTURE Shortly after Trump took office, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was created to reduce federal government department budgets, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). If workers’ jobs didn’t align with the Trump government’s priorities, which dismissed the likes of foreign aid, food aid, international development, food inspection, conservation, research, or diversity, equity and inclusion—they were fired or offered immediate buyouts. By May, more than 15,000 of the USDA’s 100,000-strong staff were on their way out the door. One institutional victim of the cuts was the University of Illinois Soybean Innovation Lab, established in 2013 to help establish a soybean market in sub-Saharan Africa. Lab director Peter Goldsmith said the lab’s efforts were a win for U.S. growers, creating a new market in the world’s fastest-growing region. He called the lab closing “a huge opportunity loss for U.S. growers,” before taking it upon himself to find funding to keep the lab open. Other federal workers took a proactive approach—one that ended their government careers. Before DOGE’s cuts impacted their jobs, 98 of 167 food safety scientists at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service resigned to protest DOGE cuts. Their work included detecting pathogens, preventing foodborne illness, and identifying chemical and other contaminants in food. MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN The appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services created another pause for concern in the agriculture sector as he promoted his ‘Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)’ agenda. For grain farmers, the concern lies with Kennedy’s views of modern crop protection products, especially pesticides and particularly glyphosate. Prior to his government appointment, Kennedy worked as a lawyer and was involved in litigation against the glyphosate product Roundup. In October, when Trump promised to let Kennedy “go wild on science” if elected, the agri-food sector started bracing for the worst. Trump budgeted $500 million for MAHA and supported a hastily assembled MAHA report on childhood health. But even before the report was released, U.S. farm leaders lined up to warn against
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