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<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><span style="color: #4E5256;float: left;padding: 2px 17px 2px 17px;margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px;font-size: 39px;font-weight: bold;border: solid 1px #4E5256;">A</span>n ambitious federal effort is pouring some $700 million into scaling “regenerative” agriculture, framed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a sustainable alternative to modern farming. In a <a href="https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/2089395432023597477?s=20">recent video</a>, Kennedy promoted the approach as a way to rebuild nutrient density, cut chemical use and raise farmer profits while protecting the land for future generations. The rhetoric is appealing, but it badly misrepresents the realities of food production. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Regenerative agriculture, as defined by groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, is long on <a href="https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/07/22/regenerative-farming-aocs-overhyped-climate-change-solution-16445">flowery language</a>—“restore soil and ecosystem health, address inequity”—and short on operational clarity. Advocates typically reject or minimize the modern tools of intensive agriculture in favor of older, less-efficient methods. Some practitioners do pursue useful questions about soil nutrient management and plant resilience, but that work is not what Kennedy is selling. He presents regenerative practices as a superior system overall, which the evidence doesn’t support.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Pesticide safety remains one of his central targets. Critics have long argued that residual exposures, though individually tiny, become dangerous when “added up.” That cumulative-exposure gambit ignores how regulation actually works. Maximum residue levels are set with large safety factors; the resulting exposures are so low that neither single chemistries nor combinations reach levels of toxicological concern. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Moreover, synthetic products are designed for greater stability, lower off-target movement and higher efficacy. Modern herbicides, rejected by Kennedy as his allies, have also enabled widespread no-till and low-till systems that leave soil structure intact, sequester carbon, retain moisture and reduce fuel use—outcomes regenerative advocates claim to prioritize.</p>



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<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Claims of superior nutrient density in regenerative or organic crops have also not held up under scrutiny. Nutrient profiles track growing conditions, variety and soil amendments far more than production system labels. Yields, by contrast, are consistently lower under restrictive regimes. Lower productivity raises food costs and undercuts the equity goals that advocates often invoke. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Many years of experience with romanticized alternatives show the same pattern: lower yields, higher costs and no meaningful safety dividend for consumers. Modern conventional systems have delivered the safest and most abundant food supply in history on less land with fewer inputs. That record is not improved by subsidizing a return to methods that could not feed the present population, let alone the projected future one. <strong>Join Dr. Liza Lockwood and Cam English on this episode of Facts & Fallacies as they critique RFK Jr.’s regenerative farming pitch.</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Dr. Liza Lockwood is a medical toxicologist and the medical affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science. Follow her on X @DrLizaMD</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Cameron J. English is the executive vice president at the American Council on Science and Health. Follow him on X @camjenglish</strong></p>

An ambitious federal effort is pouring some $700 million into scaling “regenerative” agriculture, framed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a sustainable alternative to modern farming. In a recent video, Kennedy promoted the approach as a way to rebuild nutrient density, cut chemical use and raise farmer profits while protecting the land for future generations. The rhetoric is appealing, but it badly misrepresents the realities of food production. Regenerative agriculture, as defined by groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, is long on flowery language—“restore soil and ecosystem health, address inequity”—and short on operational clarity. Advocates typically reject or minimize the modern tools of intensive agriculture in favor of older, less-efficient methods. Some practitioners do pursue useful questions about soil nutrient management and plant resilience, but that work is not what Kennedy is selling. He presents regenerative practices as a superior system overall, which the evidence doesn’t support. Pesticide safety remains one of his central targets. Critics have long argued that residual exposures, though individually tiny, become dangerous when “added up.” That cumulative-exposure gambit ignores how regulation actually works. Maximum residue levels are set with large safety factors; the resulting exposures are so low that neither single chemistries nor combinations reach levels of toxicological concern. Moreover, synthetic products are designed for greater stability, lower off-target movement and higher efficacy. Modern herbicides, rejected by Kennedy as his allies, have also enabled widespread no-till and low-till systems that leave soil structure intact, sequester carbon, retain moisture and reduce fuel use—outcomes regenerative advocates claim to prioritize. Mis- and disinformation are distorting science and public policy. Subscribe to our Daily and Weekly Digests for incisive coverage of ‘disruptive’ innovations in AI, agricultural biotechnology, food, chemicals, nuclear energy, vaccines, and other disruptive innovations. SIGN UP Claims of superior nutrient density in regenerative or organic crops have also not held up under scrutiny. Nutrient profiles track growing conditions, variety and soil amendments far more than production system labels. Yields, by contrast, are consistently lower under restrictive regimes. Lower productivity raises food costs and undercuts the equity goals that advocates often invoke. Many years of experience with romanticized alternatives show the same pattern: lower yields, higher costs and no meaningful safety dividend for consumers. Modern conventional systems have delivered the safest and most abundant food supply in history on less land with fewer inputs. That record is not improved by subsidizing a return to methods that could not feed the present population, let alone the projected future one. Join Dr. Liza Lockwood and Cam English on this episode of Facts & Fallacies as they critique RFK Jr.’s regenerative farming pitch. Dr. Liza Lockwood is a medical toxicologist and the medical affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science. Follow her on X @DrLizaMD Cameron J. English is the executive vice president at the American Council on Science and Health. Follow him on X @camjenglish






<p>An ambitious federal effort is pouring some $700 million into scaling “regenerative” agriculture, framed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a sustainable alternative to modern farming. In a <a href="https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/2089395432023597477?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent video</a>, Kennedy promoted the approach as a way to rebuild nutrient density, cut chemical use and raise farmer profits while protecting the land for future generations. The rhetoric is appealing, but it badly misrepresents the realities of food production. </p>



<p>Regenerative agriculture, as defined by groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, is long on <a href="https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/07/22/regenerative-farming-aocs-overhyped-climate-change-solution-16445" rel="noopener noreferrer">flowery language</a>—“restore soil and ecosystem health, address inequity”—and short on operational clarity. Advocates typically reject or minimize the modern tools of intensive agriculture in favor of older, less-efficient methods. Some practitioners do pursue useful questions about soil nutrient management and plant resilience, but that work is not what Kennedy is selling. He presents regenerative practices as a superior system overall, which the evidence doesn’t support.</p>



<p>Pesticide safety remains one of his central targets. Critics have long argued that residual exposures, though individually tiny, become dangerous when “added up.” That cumulative-exposure gambit ignores how regulation actually works. Maximum residue levels are set with large safety factors; the resulting exposures are so low that neither single chemistries nor combinations reach levels of toxicological concern. </p>



<p>Moreover, synthetic products are designed for greater stability, lower off-target movement and higher efficacy. Modern herbicides, rejected by Kennedy as his allies, have also enabled widespread no-till and low-till systems that leave soil structure intact, sequester carbon, retain moisture and reduce fuel use—outcomes regenerative advocates claim to prioritize.</p>



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<p>Claims of superior nutrient density in regenerative or organic crops have also not held up under scrutiny. Nutrient profiles track growing conditions, variety and soil amendments far more than production system labels. Yields, by contrast, are consistently lower under restrictive regimes. Lower productivity raises food costs and undercuts the equity goals that advocates often invoke. </p>



<p>Many years of experience with romanticized alternatives show the same pattern: lower yields, higher costs and no meaningful safety dividend for consumers. Modern conventional systems have delivered the safest and most abundant food supply in history on less land with fewer inputs. That record is not improved by subsidizing a return to methods that could not feed the present population, let alone the projected future one. <strong>Join Dr. Liza Lockwood and Cam English on this episode of Facts &amp; Fallacies as they critique RFK Jr.’s regenerative farming pitch.</strong></p>



<p>



</p><p><strong>Dr. Liza Lockwood is a medical toxicologist and the medical affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science. Follow her on X @DrLizaMD</strong></p>



<p><strong>Cameron J. English is the executive vice president at the American Council on Science and Health. Follow him on X @camjenglish</strong></p>

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