Regenerative-ag farmers had to persuade Trump to sign order over opposition from Farm Bureau boss in Oval Office

Cattle farmer Will Harris shared this photo of the meeting by White House photographer Parick Witty.

"A group of farmers walked into the Oval Office last week expecting to smile as the president signed an executive order supporting the popular farming practice called regenerative agriculture, a method cheered by the Make America Healthy Again movement as an alternative to pesticides. Instead they were greeted by a virtual buzzsaw as President Donald Trump also brought in a top advocate who opposed the policy, prompting a live debate between top advisers, Cabinet secretaries and farmers," reports Politico's Cheyenne Haslett.

Zippy Duvall (Farm Bureau photo)

After an hour of back-and-forth between the farmers, the president, and American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, Trump signed the executive order, "which directs government agencies to promote holistic farming practices that rely on natural land rehabilitation over chemicals," Haslett reports. Also in the room were Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who supported the order.

“I thought the farmers … were going in there just for a photo opportunity,” Jonathan Lundgren, a former Agriculture Department scientist who runs a regenerative farm in South Dakota, told Haslett. He and two other farmers said Duvall told Trump "he was concerned that the order would insinuate a negative impact from pesticide use and said he would not be able to advocate for Trump on behalf of farmers if he signed it," Haslett reports.

A Farm Bureau spokesman denied that Duvall said he would forsake Trump. "Trump went back and forth with Duvall, asking him what he opposed, to which Duvall said he hadn’t been able to fully read the order, the three farmers said. Trump eventually told him he didn’t think the order posed a threat to farmers," Haslett reports.

Regenerative farmer Rick Clark of Indiana told Haslett, “President Trump was just making sure that he had everyone’s opinion and was given all the information before he signed that document,” Clark said. “Was there passion in the room? Yeah, most definitely passion.” Cattle farmer Will Harris of Georgia shared on his blog what he told Trump.

Earlier that day, the Supreme Court shielded Bayer, maker of the weedkiller Roundup, from "thousands of lawsuits that claim the company failed to warn people about the health risks associated with its products," Haslett notes. Lundgren told Trump that families were being “poisoned by these chemical companies and didn’t have recourse anymore.” He "found the president to be concerned," Haslett reports. "Trump turned to Rollins and Duvall, who explained the ruling to him, Lundgren said."

Kennedy and senior adviser Calley Means "framed the ruling as a black eye to MAHA, two of the farmers said, and Kennedy said the executive order on regenerative agriculture would be an important part of repairing relations with the MAHA supporters," Haslett reports.

Bats help farmers by controlling the insect population, but many bat species are in danger of extinction

                                                                              Photo by James Wainscoat for Unsplash

Despite fears many people have about bats, they provide a lot of benefits to society, especially farmers. 

“There was a study some years ago that estimated that insect pest control provided by bats, the economic value of that was over $8 billion,” Alex Silvis, the endangered species coordinator for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, told Eric Douglas for a report by West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “It is a significant benefit to have bats for just insect control alone” -- which protects many crops.

Bats are in serious danger, however. According to Douglas' report: "In North America, more than 50% of all bat species have a “moderate to very high risk of extinction” in the next 15 years" because of diseases, pesticides and climate change. 

Douglas reports: "To learn more about bat populations, researchers must first find their caves. Even when they live within earshot of a paved road, getting to their front porch takes some work."

Silvis is among those researchers, and he spends time hiking into hard-to-reach places to identify where the bats live and provide estimated counts of the population.  

“The ecosystem is incredibly linked to one another in very complex ways,” John Moredock,
of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, told Douglas. “One small change has big implications across many different areas of an ecosystem, many that are hard to predict.

Rural hospital CEOs cite their biggest concerns -- staffing, ever-changing government policies and tech challenges

CEOs at rural hospitals say "fast-advancing technology, ever-changing government policies and staffing shortages top the list of concerns" they face today, according to a report by Jim Massey for Farm Progress. 

According to the article, rural hospitals "often struggle because they tend to care for an older population, and federal Medicare reimbursement doesn’t cover the actual cost of care."

In addition, it's hard to hire and retain enough nurses, and staffing shortages can lead to higher stress and burnout among existing employees. 

Massey reports, "Many rural hospitals operate on razor-thin margins, which has prompted some facilities to move away from services such as maternity care or dialysis. 

"A total of 146 rural hospitals closed or stopped providing inpatient services from 2005 to 2023 in the U.S., according to the Economic Research Service, requiring rural residents to drive farther for their basic healthcare needs."

According to Massey's report, "Rural hospital officials say there is considerable uncertainty when it comes to the future of their organizations, yet they remain optimistic." 

“With large health systems, you can get stuck in the mud, but in rural healthcare, we get things done,” said Dan Rohrbach, CEO of Southwest Health in Platteville, Wis. “We can see things change in real time. We get to see that happen every day.” 

Rural journalists can apply for funding to attend Radically Rural Summit; deadline is July 12

Journalists who work in rural newsrooms are can apply for funding to attend this year's Radically Rural Summit, scheduled for Oct. 6-8 in Keene, New Hampshire. 

The deadline to apply for funding, which includes lodging, admission to the summit and a stipend for travel expenses, is Sunday, July 12. The application is available here. 

Radically Rural identifies itself as a "grassroots movement founded in Keene, NH, that aims to amplify collective rural impact by connecting folks with each other and with ideas," including an annual summit. 

This year's summit includes a community journalism track of sessions on Oct. 7. 

If you have questions, please contact Cecily Weisburgh at cweisburgh@keenesentinel.com or Emily Lytle at lytle@opencampus.org.