The 2026 Farm Bill currently moving through Congress contains a number of provisions that conflict with the Make America Healthy Again movement, particularly regarding pesticides and factory farming. One amendment that has received little attention would allow tobacco farmers to receive more disaster and emergency funds, a move that critics say runs counter to public health goals and MAHA’s pledge to lower chronic disease rates in the United States.
The amendment, introduced earlier this month by Rep. David Rauser (R.N.C.), would make tobacco farmers eligible for assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Commodity Credit Corporation. Tobacco farmers have been excluded from receiving these funds since the end of the federal tobacco program, which ran from 1938 to 2004.
Rauser, whose state is the nation’s largest tobacco producer, said the amendment is a “technical fix” that is consistent with the original intent of the 2004 deal to give tobacco farmers $10 billion over 10 years. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) opposed the amendment, saying it would “restore the government’s ability to use taxpayer funds to promote domestic tobacco consumption and tobacco marketing. It appears highly inconsistent with the policy of ‘Make America Healthy Again.'”
Those objections were rejected.
Kelsey Romeo-Stappy, chief attorney at the nonprofit advocacy group Action on Smoking and Health, said in an email that the overall impact of the proposed changes would be relatively small. “But that’s the equivalent of subsidizing a product that kills half a million Americans every year,” she says.
Smoking rates are at historic lows. I haven’t heard anything about it from the government.
Tobacco subsidies “lower the cost of finished tobacco products, increase the likelihood that children will become addicted, and reduce incentives for adults to quit,” she said.
Tobacco farmers can benefit from other government subsidies, such as federal crop insurance. They also remain eligible for emergency relief from Congress, similar to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, MAHA activists have been vocal about concerns about provisions that protect pesticide manufacturers from health-related lawsuits and limit states’ ability to put health warning labels on pesticides. Some have already expressed feelings of betrayal following President Trump’s executive order to increase production of glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup and a frequent target of criticism for its possible links to cancer.
Zen Honeycutt, president of the grassroots MAHA organization Moms Across America, said in an email that her organization wants to see American farmers thrive “if they grow crops that are not toxic to the American people.”
“If they are growing crops that use toxic chemicals, no matter what the crops are, we urge our elected officials to prioritize helping these farmers transition away from GMOs and toxic chemicals to regenerative organic farming,” Honeycutt continued. “We urge American farmers who grow pesticide-intensive crops such as soybeans, corn, sugar beets, tobacco, and cotton to reconsider their farming practices and choose to transition to non-toxic farming practices.”
Environmental advocates not part of the MAHA movement sounded similar alarms. “Pesticides have been linked to many diseases, including birth defects and cancer,” Lauren Borsheim, a food policy analyst at the nonprofit Food & Water Watch, said in an email. “Instead of using this opportunity to encourage low-input agriculture, the Farm Bill doubles down on the use of these toxic chemicals.”
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So-called low-input agriculture, which minimizes the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers and is part of so-called regenerative agriculture, is popular among both MAHA supporters and those on the left because of its potential benefits for both health and the environment.
Jessica Kunulik, a nutritionist and prominent science communicator, said tensions are inevitable between the MAHA movement, led by Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Republican Party, whose supporters are aligned. “From the beginning, there has been a clear mismatch between the MAHA movement’s rhetoric around environmental toxins and the Trump administration’s longstanding policy of overt deregulation,” Knuric wrote in a recent newsletter.
There are elements of the farm bill that MAHA supporters may be able to support. One of the provisions designates animal protein as an encouraged food under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, meaning stores can sell meat at a discount to people as food benefits. This is in line with the latest dietary guidelines released in January, which call for Americans to eat more protein from animal and other sources. Although many nutrition experts say Americans don’t need more protein, especially from red and processed meats, MAHA proponents tend to eat steak and beef jerky.
But the farm bill currently before the Senate Agriculture Committee highlights the reality that politicians seeking to accommodate a powerful agricultural industry risk losing MAHA’s support while running afoul of public health goals. New government data shows the U.S. smoking rate has fallen below 10%, a key indicator, for the first time. But if the tobacco amendment makes it into the final bill, it would be another victory for an industry that has thrived under the Trump administration.
“Tobacco is probably the only health issue that HHS has ignored under this administration,” said Romeo Stappy of Action on Smoking and Health. “This is surprising because tobacco use is the leading cause of avoidable death in the United States.”
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