President Trump sided with the Make America Healthy Again movement in a tense Oval Office confrontation on June 25, 2026, signing an executive order on regenerative agriculture despite fierce opposition from the nation’s largest farm lobby, according to reporting by Axios and Politico.
The roughly hour-long meeting pitted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and MAHA farmers against Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, which represents over 5 million farming and ranching members. Duvall warned Trump that signing the order would cost him support from farmers, according to three attendees who described the encounter as “shocking.”
Trump asked what Duvall opposed. Duvall said he hadn’t fully read the order but expressed concern it would insinuate pesticides were unsafe, according to the farmers present. Trump eventually told him the order posed no threat to farmers and signed it anyway. Duvall later said he would support it.
The confrontation erupted hours after the Supreme Court handed Bayer, the parent company of the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, a major legal shield against thousands of lawsuits claiming the company failed to warn people about health risks. Kennedy’s team framed the ruling as a blow to MAHA and argued the executive order would help offset it, according to Politico.
Jonathan Lundgren, a South Dakota farmer and former USDA official at the meeting, said he told Trump that farmers were sick. “We’re literally killing our farmers with these food systems,” Lundgren recounted to Axios. He described Duvall’s forceful opposition as “shocking” and said the president appeared concerned and wanted to understand Duvall’s worries.
The most heated exchange occurred between Duvall and Calley Means, a Kennedy deputy, according to Axios. Means told Duvall it was clear he hadn’t read the order. “It was intense in there,” Lundgren said. “They were arguing. It was back and forth.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who has publicly defended conventional pesticides, urged Trump to sign the order. After hearing from both sides, Trump signed it. The farming representatives later joined Trump, Kennedy and Rollins for dinner on the Rose Garden patio.
A Coalition Under Strain
The Oval Office clash exposed a deepening rift in Trump’s coalition between MAHA advocates pushing to reduce pesticide use and farming interests determined to preserve them. The tension has simmered for months as Trump’s administration pursued contradictory policies on pesticides.
In February 2026, Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to guarantee domestic supply of glyphosate-based herbicides, citing national defense concerns. The move infuriated MAHA activists and Kennedy supporters who had campaigned on reducing pesticide exposure. Kennedy himself said he wasn’t happy with the order, according to E&E News.
The regenerative agriculture executive order signed June 25 directs USDA to “maximize” funding for a $700 million regenerative agriculture pilot program and orders federal agencies to develop a research framework examining cumulative chemical exposures in the food supply, according to the White House and USDA. The order also calls for accelerating EPA approvals for alternative pest-management tools.
Both sides see the debate as existential. MAHA argues pesticides are making Americans sick, particularly children. The agricultural industry says restricting pesticide use would raise food prices and cost farmers billions of dollars, according to reporting by Axios and Politico.
The confrontation illustrated Trump’s freewheeling governing style. “The president likes watching people squirm a little,” a person close to the White House told Politico. “The people who handle it well get rewarded.”
Mike Tomko, communications director for the American Farm Bureau Federation, disputed accounts that Duvall said he would withhold support if Trump signed the order. Tomko said Duvall’s concerns centered on “the insinuation that our food supply is not safe” because of pesticides. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Trump “listens to a variety of opinions from many subject experts to inform his decision-making.”
Sources
- Axios — reporting on Trump backing MAHA in the heated Oval Office pesticide debate, with details from attendees
- Politico — coverage of the Oval Office meeting and Trump’s decision-making process on the regenerative agriculture order
- USDA — official press release on the regenerative agriculture executive order and funding details
- E&E News by POLITICO — reporting on RFK Jr.’s statement regarding Trump’s glyphosate executive order
