False Flag

Here it comes, another schtick. Everyone’s attention will focus on the bright shiny skippy lure. It does not matter what side of the aisle your political leanings rest upon, we all have to eat so we pay attention. When an administration so openly hostile to the American farmer makes big splashy announcements about how they are going to fund initiatives for regenerative agriculture, I tend to be suspicious, very suspicious.

Back in late 2025 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a $700 million program to “promote regenerative agriculture, to improve soil health, enhance water quality and boost long-term productivity all while strengthening America’s food and fiber supply.”  At least that created some middle ground at the dinner table over the holidays. Recently, a media darling in the alternative ag space splashed their visit to the White House all over the Internet and the 1% (meaning those who don’t engage in conventional industrial agriculture, which would be your farmers at the markets) swooned because they thought they were finally getting a place at the USDA’s table. I spent enough time as an INFOSEC researcher and analyst to know to something is being surreptitiously getting approved while our attention is elsewhere.

I think we can all agree that having a safe food and water supply should be important and by announcing the official adoption of promoting regenerative farming practices one would tend to think that would mean trying to make things better, right? But while our agricultural influencers were smiling for the cameras, the government quietly approved three new “forever chemical” pesticides for use on America’s food crops including corn, soybean, wheat, and citrus.

Trifludimoxazin, epyrifenacil, and diflufenican have been added to the list of approved pesticides. Late last year about the same time as the presser for the $700 million averted our attention, cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram also were removed from the list of banned PFAS pesticides. For the first time ever, chlormequat has been approved for food use where previously only used on ornamentals. Once in the soil, these compounds don’t break down or dissipate. Their toxicities persist and accumulate in the bodies of organisms who live in and consume plants grown in polluted soil and then in the bodies of the organisms that eat them. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 99% of everyone living in the United States already have PFAS chemicals in their blood, including newborns.

Despite the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knowing about the health hazards of these pesticides for decades, only in 2024 were limits established for limits in drinking water and in 2025 that hard won public health victory was abolished, removing maximum contaminant limits for PFAS chemicals. Great. Let’s just spray more toxic substances on the soil. 35 million pounds of the stuff already gets sprayed on crops annually. While most of those chemicals average around $40 a pound, some of the newer, patented chemicals run in the thousands per pound.  

But the smoke and mirrors didn’t stop with the pesticides. The exact same day and the exact same news cycle, the Supreme Court handed down another win for the makers of Roundup that protects corporations against lawsuits from those harmed (which are most often farmers) by the most ubiquitous herbicide on the planet. That sets quite a precedent.

Now we’ll be using more toxic chemicals to grow food but will be unable to seek legal recourse if we are poisoned by said toxic chemicals. But it’s alright because there’s $700 million set aside to help fix the problem using regenerative farming practices. I’m guessing that fourth generation farmer visiting the Oval Office didn’t notice that a billion dollars were cut from the Local Schools Program (LSP) and Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA). The National Organic Program lost a third of their funding and the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) was prematurely shuttered. I wonder where the rest of their budget went. And if the current administration and agency secretaries are so gung-ho on the kind of agriculture that’s good to the soil, the farmers, and the eaters, why has nearly $5 billion (yes, billion with a B) been slashed from the USDA’s budget and the EPA cut by over half?

I’ve been in the business of producing food for forty years now in one way or another. Back then we were just a bunch of cheap weirdos who believed in letting cows be cows and running poultry through the orchards to eat the fallen fruit because it cut the feed bill in half. Then it was cool to be organic until it became (Big O) Certified Organic and coopted by the government. Since then, I’ve run the gauntlet of sustainable, humane, biodynamic, grass-fed, pollinator and predator friendly, each label-worthy attestation accompanied by a non-profit and a hefty fee for certification. I’m certain a regenerative designation will follow the same path as that.

It all sounds so overwhelming at times, but each day I go out and do my best on the farm to adhere to common sense, science-based, and wisdom-shared agricultural practices just like my fellow vendors who show up each week to help keep us all fed in ways that best respect our planet.