July 1, 2026 | Source: Axios | by Alex Isenstadt
Tensions over pesticide use erupted in an Oval Office meeting last week, as a top agriculture lobbyist warned President Trump that an executive order calling for pest-killing alternatives would cost Trump support from farming interests.
Why it matters: The confrontation, which one attendee called “shocking,” exposed a sharp fault line in Trump’s coalition — the push by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement to reduce conventional pesticides vs. farming interests determined to preserve them
- Both sides see the debate as existential: MAHA argues pesticides are making Americans sick, while the agricultural industry says restricting their use would raise food prices and cost farmers billions of dollars.
Zoom in: The long-running fight came to a head during Thursday’s tense meeting in the Oval Office.
- Trump, HHS Secretary Kennedy, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall met to discuss a pesticide-focused executive order that Trump would sign later that day.
- White House aides also joined, as did Kennedy Chief of Staff Stefanie Spear.
- Kennedy’s team was already on edge over a Supreme Court ruling earlier that day that handed the pesticide industry a major legal victory by making it harder to sue manufacturers over alleged health risks.
