Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long advocated for American growers to curb their reliance on certain chemicals to grow and protect crops.
Photographer: Kaiti Sullivan/Bloomberg
RFK Jr. Helps Underpin a $25 Billion Pivot From Farm Chemicals
Kennedy’s views on certain chemicals are adding to a trend of more farmers going natural.
Rick Clark, a fifth-generation farmer in Indiana, started going all natural more than a decade ago. Today, the land where he grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa is fully organic and free of all chemical inputs. More producers will start to follow suit, he says, thanks in part to a new ally: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy has long advocated for American growers to curb their reliance on certain chemicals to grow and protect crops, claiming they can be toxic. And while it’s too soon to say how much US policy will actually change when it comes to the inputs, the health secretary’s views are capturing the zeitgeist. That’s allowing him to underpin an established trend as more consumers also demand a shift.