Revitalizing Our Food

Kennedy Hosts Lively Roundtable with America's Farmers

Late on August 3, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. hosted a virtual roundtable with a geographically diverse group of America’s farmers. The event, titled “Revitalizing Our Food, Farms, and Soil: The Farmers Speak,” was live-streamed on Rumble, 

A long-time advocate for environmentally sustainable practices, Kennedy aims to make agricultural policy reform one of his top priorities. He hopes to revitalize the nation’s farms and emphasize the importance of agriculture in sustaining health, both of humans and natural ecosystems. 

Moderated by Elizabeth Kucinich, a proponent of organic and regenerative agriculture, the event boasted a lineup of ‘name’ farmers, including Gail Fuller  of Fuller Farms, Kansas, Ben Dobson of Hudson Carbon (from New York’s Hudson Valley);  John Kempf  of Advancing Eco Agriculture in Ohio; Bob Quinn of Quinn Farm & Ranch in Montana; Kerry Hoffschneider of The Graze Master Group in Nebraska; Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin of Tree Range Farms, Inc. in Minnesota; Wayne Swanson of Swanson Family Farm in Georgia; Will Harris of White Oak Pastures in Georgia; and Judith McGeary of Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance in Texas.

Kennedy listened as panelists discussed regenerative practices in use to revolutionize American agriculture during a time when industrial pollution and financial strain are affecting farmers across the country. Afterward, he shared his experience battling unhealthy livestock rearing practices, namely chickens and hogs. He called out the USDA as a “sock puppet” of industrial agriculture and doing “the inverse of what it was supposed to do.” 

The panelists spoke at length about the range of problems plaguing their respective farms. 

Dobson emphasized how critical America’s landscape, shorelines and waterways are to the ecosystem. He also explained how the current Biden administration is unnecessarily preventing American farmers from scaling up production of non-GMO corn in order to meet the needs of our neighbors in Mexico.

Harris talked about his family’s multigenerational effort to run a successful farm in Georgia, and the political challenges their business faces in simply having their meat correctly labeled as “American.”

Hoffschneider discussed the financial strain facing farmers in rural Nebraska, and the real possibility of running out of fresh drinking water in America. She invoked the 1980s farm crisis which saw thousands of American farmers go bankrupt due to fall in land values, skyrocketed interest rates, and overall inflation.

Quinn educated Kennedy on the true nature of celiac and wheat allergies, highlighting the changes to grain processing that have rendered certain foods indigestible for a large group of Americans.

Haslett-Marroquin, a first-generation immigrant from Guatemala, shared his unique perspective derived from ancestral knowledge on the unnecessary sacrifice of our land made in the name of food, and the way in which he incorporates traditional farming techniques with advances in modern science.

Kempf offered insight from his Amish background, particularly the true nature of soil as a regenerative organism (and not just dirt), emphasizing how pesticides worsened his community’s problems right after their historic crop loss from 2002 to 2004.

Fuller highlighted the role of crop insurance in incentivizing poor yields, and the mental health crisis facing farmers across the country – all allowed because of the corporate capture of every level of agriculture. Recounting personal struggles, he poignantly pointed out the highest rates of farmer suicide rates in Kansas. “Healing the farmer is as important as healing the farm,” Fuller declared in a short but impassioned speech.

Swanson walked Kennedy through his journey into farming, and how he became the educational resource he wished was available to him. He shared his work advocating on behalf of black farmers in Georgia.

McGeary ended the discussion by drawing attention to the fundamental flaw in the current “get big or get out” philosophy that has led to the complete control of America’s food system.

“If we don’t [resort to regenerative farming practices and educate ourselves], we are going to lose the planet,” Swanson said.