Kennedy’s past makes him an unlikely candidate for agriculture secretary, according to Daniel Glickman, who served in that role under President Bill Clinton. “It’s hard for me to imagine, given Trump’s traditional base in the heartland, that he would elect someone who was an advocate for breaking up big farms and ending consolidated agriculture,” Glickman says.
Like high-level positions at HHS, the USDA secretary position would have to be confirmed by a Senate vote. “I don’t think (Kennedy) is a surefire hit,” Glickman says.
Trump’s choice for head of the USDA during his first term was Sonny Perdue, the former governor of Georgia and founder of an agricultural trading company. Most agriculture secretaries have experience in industry or politics, two groups crucial to the person who will lead a department that employs nearly 100,000 people and is made up of 29 agencies, including forestry, conservation and of nutrition. “The difference between Sonny Perdue and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is like night and day,” Glickman says.
If Kennedy were confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture, he might have difficulty implementing the most radical parts of his program. He’s an outspoken critic of pesticides, but the USDA is generally not in charge of regulating them, says Dan Blaustein-Rejto, director of agricultural policy and research at the Breakthrough Institute. Rather, the EPA regulates pesticides with public health uses.
Although he may not be able to directly influence pesticide regulations, Kennedy has said he would try to “weaponize” others. agencies against “chemical agriculture” by commissioning scientific research into the effects of pesticides. The USDA Agricultural Research Service has a discretionary budget of nearly $2 billion for research on crops, livestock, nutrition, food security and natural resources. resource conservation.
There are other levers an Agriculture Secretary could pull, Blaustein-Rejto says. USDA is investing 3 billion dollars through the partnership for climate-smart commodities, a plan that is supposed to make American agriculture more climate-friendly. A USDA chief could influence the selection criteria for these types of programs. The USDA also oversees the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), which has a $5 billion fund that it uses to support farm income and conservation programs, and to help farmers affected by natural disasters. It’s possible that a USDA chief could influence how the agency distributes these CCC funds.
Kennedy has also argued that corporate interests have captured the United States’ dietary guidelines and pledged to eliminate conflicts of interest for USDA groups that develop dietary guidelines. The U.S. dietary guidelines are developed jointly by the USDA and HHS and are updated every five years, giving the secretary of agriculture limited opportunities to influence any recommendations.
“If RFK plays a high-level political role, I hope there will be a lot more talk about ultra-processed foods, but I’m not sure what that would really mean when it comes to dietary guidelines,” says Blaustein-Rejto. .
Experts WIRED spoke to largely think Kennedy’s most extreme positions will likely be limited by bureaucracy. But the message that elevating a vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist would send remains a serious concern ahead of a potential second Trump administration.
