Leaked MAHA Strategy Falls Short, Earns D+ from Farm Action
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2025Media Contact: Jessica Cusworth, 202-450-0887, jcusworth
Leaked MAHA Strategy Falls Short, Earns D+ from Farm Action
Washington, D.C. — Angela Huffman, President of Farm Action, issued the following statement in response to the leaked draft of the Make America Healthy Again strategy report:
The leaked draft of the Make America Healthy Again strategy earns a D+ from Farm Action. It recognizes some of the right priorities and even overlaps with our recommendations in places, but the execution is timid and avoids the structural reforms needed to truly deliver on the MAHA Commission’s own diagnosis of the problem.
The Commission’s April assessment called out systemic issues like corporate capture and consolidation in the food system, chemical contamination in agriculture, and federal programs like crop insurance that drive production of commodity crops over healthy foods.
But between April and August, the White House met with powerful lobbyists, and the influence shows. The draft avoids antitrust action on monopoly power in food production, processing, and retail. While it nods to soil health, it punts on pesticide dependence—offering only “precision application” and reassurances to lobbyists instead of a real transition plan. It also leaves crop insurance and subsidy distortions untouched, keeping fruit and vegetable growers at a disadvantage. Overall, it’s a far cry from the bold promises of structural reform made on the campaign trail.
The draft is not without positives, like easing barriers for CSAs and direct-to-consumer sales, improving farm-to-school grants, supporting small meat processors and mobile units, and expanding voluntary soil health programs—the kind of steps Farm Action recommended to the Commission. But these scattered measures are thin on detail and overshadowed by the reluctance to take on reforms at the scale of the problem.
We’ll be watching for the final version from the White House. As the only farm group to have publicly endorsed RFK Jr. for HHS Secretary, we expect the final strategy to deliver on the promises made to farmers and rural America.
###
Farm Action is a nonpartisan agricultural watchdog organization led by farmers. We advocate for accountability from both our government and large corporations within the agricultural sector. We envision a fair, sustainable, and healthy food system that empowers farmers, workers, and rural communities to feed America.
