Executive Order Issued on Advancing Regenerative Agriculture & Strengthening American Farm Resilience
On June 25, President Trump issued Executive Order 14414 on “Advancing Regenerative Agriculture and Strengthening American Farm Resilience.” The order is intended to build on the work of the Administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission and to “promote continued advances in precision agriculture technologies; significantly increase Federal investment in regenerative agriculture practices, research, and education; and spur private-sector innovation in farm modernization by reducing red tape and strengthening public-private partnerships.”
According to the order, “American farmers and ranchers have always prioritized care of their land and are increasingly interested in adopting innovative conservation farming practices like regenerative agriculture. These practices strengthen soil health, lower input costs, improve chemical efficiency to reduce overall use, improve farm profitability, maintain yields, increase market value, expand access to new markets, and strengthen rural economies. My Administration is committed to further actions that support farmers and ranchers as they seek to adopt these practices.”
The order states that the Administration will take the following actions:
- EPA shall prioritize registration actions that provide alternatives to older active ingredients;
- EPA shall review all available data for registered pre-harvest desiccation uses to ensure that they meet all applicable safety and environmental standards, including accurate labeling;
- USDA, HHS and EPA shall expedite the development of a research and evaluation framework for cumulative exposure of regulated chemicals in the food supply.
- HHS, in consultation with USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy and EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, shall issue a grand prize challenge from the National Institutes of Health for researchers to identify creative solutions for evaluating the exposure, diagnosis, and treatments of cumulative chemical exposures on individual health.
- HHS, through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, shall prioritize research to identify new, innovative, and cost-effective technologies that reduce reliance on conventional chemical crop protection tools.
- USDA shall maximize current funding for the Regenerative Pilot Program and evaluate ways to expand the reach of the program through public-private partnerships and other tools.
This order could benefit aerial application operators by providing incentives for those who plant cover crops and by expanding demand for precision aerial application, as the order states, “…it is the policy of the United States to promote continued advances in precision agriculture technologies.” Some of the proposed actions, however, could be concerning to aerial applicators and the growers they support. NAAA will closely follow any activities that could take effective pesticides off the market or attempt to overrule EPA’s FIFRA-based human health risk assessments.