U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the Black Leg Ranch in North Dakota and said soil health determines human health, warning that agricultural chemicals damage the soil microbiome.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the Black Leg Ranch, east of Bismarck, North Dakota, on Thursday, where he took part in a roughly 90-minute roundtable on regenerative agriculture. Reporters were only allowed access to a 15-minute stretch, during which Kennedy stressed the importance of soil health for the human gut and said it determines health, emotions, mood, energy levels and “our effectiveness in life”.
“If we can keep that healthy, we can maintain public health. It’s hard to keep it healthy if the nutrients that are supposed to be in the soils are not making it into the plants, then onto our tables or our plates,” Kennedy said.
The official argued that agricultural chemicals damage the soil and destroy its microbiome, which contributes to health problems such as rising cancer rates from nitrates linked to runoff from fertilizers and chemical pesticides.
“Anything that we can do to reduce the intensity of chemical agriculture is going to be good for the farmer in every way,” Kennedy said.
According to Kennedy, the Trump administration is pursuing policies to offer “off-ramps” to farmers who want to transition to less chemical-intensive agriculture. He noted that producers have to be conservative to survive and “don’t want to do something unless they know it’s going to work”.
Kennedy cited the Doan family’s Black Leg Ranch as a model of regenerative agriculture for other farmers. Jerry Doan’s great-grandfather founded the ranch in 1882. The operation tries to mimic natural grazing patterns, “bringing back what the good Lord gave us with our natural resources,” Doan said.
“We had this abundant grassland, and season-long grazing has eroded that,” Doan said in an interview. He added that better grazing management can improve species diversity and water quality, and make grasslands more lush.
Kennedy also said U.S. children are less healthy now than when his uncle John F. Kennedy was president in the early 1960s. He said rates of type 2 diabetes, autism and obesity have risen compared with past decades, and he linked “an epidemic of depression and behavioral problems” to food in the United States.
“We all need to focus on how to get our food to be of the highest quality again in every way. It will all start with good soil. Good food, good soil, good human health,” Kennedy said.
Much of the discussion focused on how to improve soil health, said Darrell Oswald, manager of the Burleigh County Soil Conservation District, who attended the meeting. Officials and producers need to recognize that “we are working with a degraded resource,” but there are ways to fix it, he said.
“When we talk about regenerative agriculture, we are talking about a more natural system and about using soil health principles to drive the system and rebuild, so to speak, the carbon, the nutrients, the soil organic matter, the microbiome, the soil microorganisms; that is what regenerative agriculture is all about,” Oswald said.
The roundtable was a step forward, said former Standing Rock Sioux tribal chairman Dave Archambault II. “Because when we start to look at the land as a source of life and not as a resource, and that is what regenerative agriculture is about, it is going to create better health for our communities and better health for our bodies,” said Archambault II, founder of Wozu, a tribal food and culture initiative.
Wozu is on the Standing Rock Reservation and began with land regeneration. The organization took on several initiatives, such as returning buffalo to the territory and reconnecting people with the land through programs focused on cultural arts and wellness, food sovereignty and outdoor stewardship.
“I think Indigenous peoples have always had that relationship and that connection to the land, and for someone like the secretary to come and listen was an honor,” Archambault said.
The roundtable also included North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong; U.S. Interior Secretary and former governor Doug Burgum; the state’s three-member congressional delegation; Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, among others.
Later, Kennedy and the congressional delegation took part in a 30-minute roundtable on rural health alongside the state’s former first lady, Kathryn Burgum; state lawmakers; and representatives of hospitals, long-term care centers and health associations. On this occasion reporters were able to cover the entire event. Attendees talked about how to help people recover from addictions, about seeking more flexibility for applicants for federal rural health funds and about staffing in rural hospitals.
Wade Peterson, Trinity Health’s vice president of long-term care and ancillary services, asked about eliminating some COVID-era regulations, such as weekly case reporting to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Trinity had three COVID-19 cases in the last year and no COVID-19 deaths in more than three years.
“We still have to do a lot of things for COVID. I would like to see that probably eliminated. The health emergency ended three years ago,” Peterson said.
“Make a list. Send it to me. We’ll get rid of them,” Kennedy responded.
