While at the Ag Outlook Forum in Kansas City, Farm Director KC Sheperd heard comments from Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, a medical doctor, about his vision for transforming the nation’s healthcare system from a “sick care” model to a “health care” model through his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative. This effort is underpinned by four key pillars and seeks to find common ground between healthy policy and agricultural practices.
Marshall’s “ultimate hope is to turn it to a a health care system where we try to slow down what’s causing these chronic diseases.”
The Four Pillars of the MAHA Initiative
The MAHA movement, according to Senator Marshall, is built on four interconnected pillars:
- Healthy Soil and Nutrition: This pillar is where “agriculture meets healthy nutrition,” focusing on the foundational link between soil health and food quality.
- Decreasing the Exposure to Toxins: This includes addressing pollutants in the water or the air.
- Meaningful, Affordable Access to Primary Care: Marshall notes that he and Senator Bernie Sanders have worked together on this issue, agreeing that “health care is too expensive, prescription drugs are too expensive and many people don’t have meaningful access to primary care.”
- Addressing the Mental Health Epidemic: A focus on “our children and young adults.”
The Food as Medicine Caucus is considered a key component of MAHA, serving as “one special place to start with” the nutritional component of the broader initiative.
MAHA and the Agricultural Community
Senator Marshall highlighted the need for education and collaboration with the agriculture sector, particularly during the development of the MAHA Commission Report. He noted that the initial draft was “written without much input from agriculture.”
Marshall detailed the subsequent pushback from the ag community, stating that over 250 agriculture groups went to the White House to influence the report. He reminded the audience that “97% of rural America voted for President Trump,” and the administration emphasized that they “cannot do anything to hurt agriculture.” This led to a significant educational process.
Ultra-Processed Foods and Seed Oils
Marshall addressed the controversy surrounding seed oils (like corn, canola, and soybean oil), a key concern raised during the MAHA discussions.
- Marshall stated, “As far as I know, there’s nothing unhealthy about seed oils. I think that’s the bottom line.”
- He clarified that his concern is with ultra-processed foods that contain salt, sugar, and preservatives, which he believes are the “real problem” that “increases to an inflammatory process in our body,” leading to diseases like Alzheimer’s.
- He advocates for non-biased, reproducible studies from the NIH and CDC on nutrition.
Regenerative Agriculture and Economic Opportunity
The Senator strongly advocates for regenerative agriculture as an economic opportunity for farmers. He notes that while only about 10% of farmers currently “really are embracing it,” the practices align with the goals of MAHA.
- Regenerative agriculture practices, such as minimal till and cover crops, help the soil act as a carbon sink.
- Marshall contrasts this with organic farming, where farmers “have to plow the soil, so you’re releasing all that carbon,” and increasing soil erosion.
- Marshall believes that farmers will eventually “make as much, maybe more, from carbon credits as you do from from selling corn.”
He also emphasized that the MAHA movement is “not threatening” the ag community but presents “an opportunity” because the American public is “driving it” through their demand for better health.
Legislative Priorities and E15
With the need to pass a Farm Bill and other legislative vehicles, Marshall outlined several immediate policy priorities:
- Year-Round E15: Marshall declared that “E15 should be the number one priority of the administration right now.” He explained the economic impact, noting that year-round E15 sales “would increase corn consumption by 2 and a half billion bushels of corn,” essentially doubling the current corn trade market. He added that the scores “is going to save them some money, it’s going to save about $5 billion.”
- Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act: This bill, which moved out of the Senate Ag Committee, is part of his focus on improving child nutrition.
- Preserving Fertilizer Use: Marshall is pushing for a bill to “protect and preserve the use of fertilizers and chemicals” so that the EPA can “never take them away from us,” even while promoting practices that use less.
- Carbon Intensity and 45Z: Marshall is “very bullish” on the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tax credit, 45Z, which he believes “has the potential to consume more corn, soybeans, sorghum than ethanol does.”
Congressional Dysfunction and the Budget
Marshall was candid about the current political environment, including the threat of a government shutdown and the difficulty of passing legislation.
- He attributed the shutdown risk to political posturing by Senate leadership, arguing that the House has passed most of its necessary funding bills. He asserted that if the government shuts down, “it’s going to be because Chuck Schumer wants to shut it down.”
- Marshall lamented that the current political question in Washington is often not “how do we get stuff done” but political division.
- Regarding the budget, he called the national debt the “number one threat to our country,” noting that the U.S. is spending over “$3 billion a day on interest.”
Trade Realities for American Agriculture
On the topic of trade, Senator Marshall cautioned against a singular focus on trade deals as the solution for agriculture’s challenges.
- He warned that anyone who is “sitting there thinking, oh, if we get all these trade deals done, that’s going to solve all our problems is is a muck.”
- Marshall emphasized that the real focus for U.S. ag should be on value-added products: “turning commodities into protein or to biofuels.”
- He did, however, push for new trade deals to be used to “tell China, ‘look, if you want us to buy all your TVs and your washing machines, then you need to buy corn from from Kansas or from America.'”
- Marshall concluded that regardless of trade politics, “American agriculture is going to succeed when we pass year-round E15, when we promote 45Z, when we turn corn into beef or soybeans into chickens or whatever it is.”
