By Grace Hussain for Sentient.
Broadcast version by Judith Ruiz-Branch for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration

Lisa Castagnozzi considers herself an engaged community resident. The longtime animal rights activist stays plugged in on local issues, yet even she was surprised to learn a new slaughterhouse was planned in Milwaukee, right up until approval for the development of the land was poised to pass the city council. Castagnozzi wasn’t alone. Most of the community had been left in the dark, it turned out. Once Castagnozzi and the group Slaughter Free Milwaukee found out, they jumped into action to spread word of the planned slaughterhouse — ultimately winning their fight to prevent the plant from being constructed.

Slaughterhouse Owners Try to Keep Zoning Applications Quiet

Though the slaughterhouse was planned for Milwaukee’s Century City Business Park — a district that city officials have struggled to get businesses to move into — numerous residential neighborhoods would be affected. Yet initially, only a few people were there to weigh in on the proposal at the public council committee meeting where the proposal was first addressed.

It was at that meeting that members of the council, including Alderman Robert Bauman, began questioning company representatives, and learned what the company was proposing was a slaughterhouse. The facility would slaughter roughly 500 cattle daily, including animals from Illinois, Montana, Wisconsin and the Dakotas, according to the company’s representative at the meeting.

At a zoning meeting held a week later, Alderman Robert Bauman called these suspiciously quiet efforts a “strange proceeding,” pointing to the lack of briefing by the Department of City Development and the absence of citizens weighing in during the public comment period.

“There was nobody there,” he said during another zoning meeting. “There were no citizens in support and no citizens in opposition.” The effort to keep the new facility proposal quiet was alarming to Castagnozzi, both as an animal rights advocate and a member of the community.

“We didn’t know anything about a slaughterhouse potentially coming into Milwaukee,” she says, calling it “kind of out of the blue.” The fact that the meat processing plant would be constructed in a “city-owned lot” meant the community should have a chance to weigh in, she says.

Alderman Bauman expressed similar concern in his public comments. “Slaughterhouses and…all types of businesses that produce noise and dirt and odor have historically had a stigma in central city communities,” he pointed out in his remarks to the full city council. “Why? Because for whatever reason, those types of negative land uses just seem to always end up in poor neighborhoods — primarily neighborhoods of color.”

Only Days to Inform Their Neighbors

Once Castagnozzi and her small cohort of animal rights activists did learn about the proposed measure, they had just a few days before the next meeting was scheduled to get the word out. With limited time and resources, the group took to online and physical spaces to reach community members, and began to make headway. “We as a group, made flyers, did social media, we physically spread out in the community and went to the coffee shops,” she says.

Some policymakers “don’t care what kind of jobs they are, how much they pay or what the working conditions are like — they’re jobs,” says Robert Grillo, head of Slaughter Free Network. According to government documents, the facility would have paid employees an average of $17 an hour — significantly above the city’s $7.25 minimum wage but well below the salary needed to live comfortably in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee’s residents do care, it turns out. In a matter of days, activists organized dozens of opposition letters and delivered them to council members. “Jobs are not just jobs. Slaughterhouse work is among the most exploitative, dangerous and relatively low paid work in the market,” reads the letter signed and sent by many of the opposing residents.

During a city council meeting, Alderman Khalif Rainey who at the time represented the neighborhood raised objections to campaign efforts. Rainey argued that the letters were not reflective of the community, and that he had received messages from people out of the state, but barely heard from his own constituents.

Though he voted to send the proposal back to committee for further discussion, Rainey argued that the jobs it would bring would improve the lives of the majority-Black community in which the slaughterhouse would be constructed. “That’s a good, well-paying job,” he said in the council meeting, “so again, it’s crazy how all roads lead back to this one question: do Black lives matter?”

Castagnozzi disagrees. “No one we spoke to was for it,” she says. At one community cafe near the proposed site, Castagnozzi says, none of the customers knew what was planned and, when they found out, they were appalled. “They just couldn’t believe it. Like, ‘what do you mean? Like, that’s the business they’re going to put in our neighborhood’.”

Getting communities to agree, collectively, to oppose a local initiative that offers jobs can be difficult. “People are afraid of retaliation. People are afraid of speaking out or they have certain relationships, and they’re worried about those relationships causing them problems with their work or in their personal life,” says Grillo.

It’s a risk that paid off for the Wisconsin group that have now organized themselves as an official chapter of the larger national organization. Strauss canceled their plans to build a new facility in Milwaukee. Ted Beneski, head of Insight Equity Holdings, LLC, which owns a majority share in Strauss Meats, sent an email from his iPhone to Grillo. The company’s “strategy has changed,” it read, and Strauss is “not planning to build a slaughterhouse [in or near Milwaukee] or anywhere else for that matter.” Earlier that summer, the remaining Strauss Meats slaughterhouse in the Milwaukee area was also shuttered. According to a press release the decision was the result of their recent divestment from the lamb and veal businesses, combined with the relocation of their beef operations to Illinois.

To persuade community residents to speak out, advocates and organizers have to “create a tension,” says Grillo. “It’s a moral crisis,” he adds. “You have to create that to get people to take sides.”


Grace Hussain wrote this article for Sentient.


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A dead elk found east of Pinedale tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease earlier this month, marking the first such death inside a Wyoming feedground.

After a multiyear study of feedgrounds, one wildlife manager said the incident "hits home." Elk feedgrounds were started more than a century ago to provide extra food during tough winters but with increased spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, a fatal neurological condition, the practice has become riskier.

John Lund, regional wildlife supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the department released an Elk Feedgrounds Management Plan last year to help navigate the evolving situation.

"The primary goal of that plan was to evaluate our feedgrounds," Lund explained. "And look for ways that we can reduce reliance on elk and ultimately figure out how to reduce the potential for disease spread in those feedgrounds."

Today, feedgrounds are used to address modern challenges for elk including habitats fragmented by highways and human development. Lund pointed out they also help ranchers who want to avoid elk eating their cattle feed and disease spread to their herds.

According to the plan, the Scab Creek feedground, where the Chronic Wasting Disease-positive carcass was found, had an average population of 800 elk during winters between 2020 and 2023. That's about 300 more than the state's quota.

"We're taking disease sampling whenever we can on those feed grounds, removing dead carcasses that show any kind of disease symptoms or anything like that, trying to remove them from the landscape," Lund noted.

A 2024 U.S. Geological Survey report modeled population predictions of the state's Jackson Elk Herd 20 years from now, under five different feeding practices. The "continue feeding" option was predicted to have the most severe consequences: a herd at less than half its current size and the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease to 35% of its remaining elk.


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By Seth Millstein for Sentient.
Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration

In 2018, California passed one of the strongest animal welfare laws in the country - and it's been under threat ever since. Proposition 12 forbids the extreme confinement of certain farm animals, and after failing to overturn the law in the Supreme Court, opponents are now trying to repeal Proposition 12 through the upcoming Farm Bill. Will they succeed?

"It really does lie in the hands of Congress at this point," Allison Ludtke, Legislative Affairs Manager for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, tells Sentient. "There's a level of uncertainty that I think we're all feeling."

On the surface, Proposition 12's chances seem grim. The GOP's Farm Bill proposals in the House and the Senate both include Proposition 12 repeal, and come January, Republicans will control both chambers of Congress and the White House. This would seemingly give them the killshot they need to take down the law.

But it's not quite that simple, says Ludtke, whose organization has fought to defend Proposition 12 in court. Ludtke tells Sentient that Proposition 12 has found some surprising defenders, including farmers, meat producers and even some "ultra-conservative folks in the MAGA movement," who believe Proposition 12 helps American farmers remain competitive with Chinese companies.

"We've seen really conservative folks, conservative Republicans, oppose [Proposition 12 repeal]," Ludtke tells Sentient. "Given the small majority that Republicans have in the House, and that they need to be working with Democrats, that gives me a semblance of hope that we do still have some leverage here."

What Prop 12 Does

Proposition 12 is a California law that bans the extreme confinement of certain livestock in the state. Specifically, it establishes minimum space requirements for breeding pigs, egg-laying hens and veal calves, and imposes fines on any producers who confine said animals to smaller spaces.

Just as importantly, Proposition 12 also forbids California retailers from selling eggs, pork and veal that was produced using extreme confinement in other states. Because California is such an enormous market, this provision of the law has compelled livestock producers in other states to either adopt California's minimum space requirements or, alternatively, stop selling their products in California.

What Prop 12 Does Not Do

Proposition 12 is generally regarded as the strongest animal protection law in the country, and rightly so. But it's also important to note what the law does not do.

For one, it doesn't apply to chickens raised for meat. Americans eat around 8 billion chickens every year, so that's quite a few animals who receive no protections under the law.

In addition, Proposition 12 still permits a variety of other factory farm practices that also cause undue suffering to the animals in question. Beak-trimming, tail-docking, castration without anaesthetic and other gruesome mutilations are par for the course on farms, and Proposition 12 doesn't restrict them in any way.

How Animals in California Were Treated Before Prop 12

Before Proposition 12, California livestock producers were already somewhat restrained by Proposition 2, a similar law that voters approved in 2008. Proposition 2 requires veal calves, breeding pigs and egg-laying hens to be given enough room to turn around, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs; however, it doesn't specify exactly how much physical space this entails.

Unlike Proposition 12, Proposition 2 doesn't place any restrictions on animal products produced using extreme confinement methods in other states. This partially changed in 2010, whenCalifornia legislators passed a law requiring all shelled eggs sold in the state - though not all pork and veal products -- comply with Proposition 2's standards.

But Proposition 2's space requirements are still quite modest. California regulators determined that, in order to comply with the law, egg-laying hens must be given at least 116 square inches of space in which to live. That's around 0.8 square feet - an improvement from the 0.4 square feet of space that was the industry standard prior to Proposition 2, but still not very much space.

How Have Opponents Tried to Repeal Prop 12?

Proposition 12 was the target of multiple legal challenges from the meat industry shortly after its approval. The North American Meat Institute, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Pork Producers Council all sued to have Proposition 12 overturned, arguing that it violated the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution.

But the Supreme Court upheld Proposition 12 in 2023, with the majority concluding that, "while the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list."

Soon thereafter, a pair of Republican lawmakers attempted to repeal the law through a piece of legislation called the EATS Act. This bill would prohibit any state from imposing regulations on the sale of agricultural products produced in other states; as such, it would invalidate both Proposition 2 and Proposition 12, and prohibit any other states from enacting similar legislation in the future.

The EATS Act died in Congress. But in June, Congressional Republicans proposed inserting a version of it into the Farm Bill, a package of legislation that's renewed every five years and serves as the basis for American farm policy.

House Republicans' Farm Bill proposal would prohibit states from restricting the in-state sale of livestock products that were produced out of state, based on the conditions in which the animals were raised. However, this prohibition would not apply to "domestic animals raised for the primary purpose of egg production."

In effect, then, the House GOP's Farm Bill would repeal both Propositions 2 and 12's restrictions on pork and veal production, but not the laws' restrictions on egg production.

The Democratic Farm Bill proposal didn't include the EATS Act, or any form of Proposition 2 or Proposition 12 repeal.

But Congress has been unable to agree on a new Farm Bill for the last two years, and it's unlikely that they'll be able to do so during the last two weeks of the year. What's more likely is that they'll pass an extension of the last Farm Bill, then return in January to deliberate on a full, five-year bill.

Is Proposition 12 Doomed Once Republicans Take Control?

In the new year, Republicans will control the presidency and both chambers of Congress. In theory, this will give them the ability to repeal Proposition 12, either through the Farm Bill, a new version of the EATS Act, or some other piece of policy.

And yet oddly enough, not all Republicans are on board with repealing Proposition 12. One of the most surprising developments in this story has been the number of conservatives who either support Proposition 12 or oppose repealing it - which, as we'll see, is not necessarily the same thing.

In 2023, 16 House Republicans declared their opposition to the EATS Act in an open letter to the chair and ranking member of the House Committee on Agriculture. The next year, eight more House Republicans wrote a separate letter opposing the anti-EATS Act. For perspective, House Republicans will only have a five-seat majority when Congress reconvenes in January.

Right-wing publications like The American Conservative and Newsmax have run op-eds opposing the EATS Act as well. Even Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican who blames wind turbines for power outages and thinks the USDA is racist against white people, wrote a fiery op-ed opposing Proposition 12 repeal.

Equally surprising are the farmers, retailers and meat companies who've said that don't want Proposition 12 repealed. This diverse list of opponents includes industry leaders like Perdue, meat distributors like ButcherBox and individual hog farmers across the country. According to the Humane Society, almost 5,000 farms in 39 states have also come out in favor of Proposition 12.

"The typical coalition that you would see supporting GOP efforts is not necessarily on board here," Daniel Jasper, senior policy advisor for Project Drawdown, tells Sentient.

Why Prop 12 Has So Many Unexpected Allies

Needless to say, it's not every day that you see Republicans, business leaders and meat farmers defending a strict government regulation that would cost businesses money in the name of protecting animals. There are a few factors at play here.

States' Rights

Some Republicans see the fight over Proposition 12 as a state's rights issue. For Congress to repeal a state law that California passed on its own accord would be a violation of state's rights, they say, and could lead to more federal intervention in state laws.

"While I don't agree with Prop 12, I'll defend to my dying day California's right to self-determination, and any state's ability to use its constitutional authority as that state's citizens best see fit," Sid Miller, the conservative Texas Agriculture Commissioner, wrote in an op-ed in The Hill. "While I understand the motivation for congressional leaders to want to rein in California, the EATS Act or something similar is a massive overreach of federal power."

Miller isn't just fear-mongering, as an analysis by Harvard Law identified over 1,000 state and local laws that could potentially be prohibited if the EATS Act passed.

"It would have really damaging implications on states' rights, the regulation of animal products, pesticides, and so forth," Ludtke says of the EATS Act's broad language. "I think it could really cause chaos throughout the industry, both for producers and regulators alike."

Increased Profits

On the business side, producers have cited several reasons for opposing a Proposition 12 rollback. In interviews with Sentient, several hog farmers have said that they support Proposition 12 not only because it's more humane, but because it's actually making them more money than before, as many welfare-minded customers are willing to pay a premium for Proposition 12-compliant products.

"Prop 12 is one of the best things, economically, that's happened to us in a very long time," Missouri pig farmer Hank Wurtz told Sentient earlier in the year. "That's good for American farmers. We need to make a living somehow. If Californians want to pay more for it, we welcome that."

Despite opponents' claims that Proposition 12 will wreak economic havoc on producers, the meat processing giant Hormel confirmed that it "faces no risk of material losses from compliance with Proposition 12." The Perdue-owned pork company Niman Farms has argued that Proposition 12 is merely a natural result of customers' growing distaste for animal suffering.

"Even without Proposition 12, the market has shifted to create strong demand for pork that is farmed humanely and without cruelty," Niman Farms wrote in a Supreme Court brief. "Proposition 12 reflects that shift in consumer preferences."

Niman Farms added that farmers can "produce [pork] for the California market under Proposition 12 standards and for other markets under less rigorous standards if they choose." As a result, the law "will not substantially burden farmers with excessive costs - just costs reflecting the preferences of the California market."

Fear of Foreign Control

Finally, a handful of Republicans oppose the EATS Act because they fear it would lead to Chinese companies having greater control of American farms and the American meat market. These folks include some of the most notoriously right-wing members of Congress, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Andy Biggs.
The leading pork distributor in the U.S. is the Chinese-owned company Smithfield Foods. Because China has no animal welfare laws at all for livestock, Chinese companies can produce pork at a lower cost and be more competitive than American farmers. If Proposition 12 is repealed, the argument goes, Chinese meat companies will be able to sell their pork in California, thus posing a threat to the livelihoods of American hog farmers.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, the fate of Proposition 12 lies with the new Congress, and only time will tell whether lawmakers decide to scrap it or save it. But Ludtke is optimistic, and welcomes the diverse coalition that's come together to defend Proposition 12.

"I think it's an amazing campaign that highlights what can happen when you join forces across the ideological spectrum on an issue," Ludtke says. "And so I feel, again, hopeful, even though there is a lot of uncertainty that lies ahead."


Seth Millstein wrote this article for Sentient.


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By Seth Millstein for Sentient.
Broadcast version by Kathryn Carley for Maine News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration

Donald Trump is in the process of filling out his second-term cabinet, and he recently announced appointees to lead the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Health And Human Services (HHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Trump’s recent cabinet appointments have the potential to significantly change food systems in America — but how?

Laura Fox, environmental lawyer and research scholar at Yale Law School, tells Sentient that we can expect “deregulation, lax enforcement, reduced oversight and de-emphasization or even denial of certain frameworks, such as climate change,” from the incoming appointees.

“Those are things that I think we can anticipate seeing across the board that will have huge negative impacts on food systems and agriculture,” Fox says. “Environmental justice issues are going to take a back seat, or just be ignored, in these agencies’ decisions.”

Will Trump’s Appointees Do Whatever He Wants?

It’s worth pointing out at the top that, although Trump’s appointees are individuals with their own viewpoints, cabinet secretaries generally do what the president wants them to do. They do have discretion and a degree of autonomy, but in practice, agency heads operate largely as functionaries to carry out the president’s agenda, not individual actors implementing their own favored policies.

There are exceptions to this, of course. In 2017, Trump became outraged with his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, after Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department’s Russia probe without first consulting the president. But this is the exception that proves the rule; for his second term, Trump has appointed a staunch loyalist to head the Justice Department, not a senator to whom he has no personal ties.

Similarly, Trump’s picks to head the USDA, EPA and HHS are likely to implement his larger policy agenda, regardless of their own personal views. There have already been some small signs of this acquiescence: Trump’s HHS appointee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was once an outspoken opponent of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, but stopped mentioning the chemical after allying himself with Trump, whose former EPA head Scott Pruitt thwarted a ban on the pesticide during Trump’s first term.

Nevertheless, it’s still worth looking at who each of these folks are, and what their appointments might mean for animals and food systems in America.

United States Department of Agriculture: Brooke Rollins

Nominated to lead the USDA is Brooke Rollins, a conservative attorney who has served in a number of policy-oriented positions over the last few decades. In Texas, she served as former Gov. Rick Perry’s policy director, and later led the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Rollins held several White House positions during Trump’s first term, including Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives and Director of the Office of American Innovation. She currently leads the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a Trump-aligned think tank.

Rollins has some personal history in agriculture, as she grew up on a farm and got her undergraduate degree in agricultural leadership and development. She doesn’t appear to have any professional experience in the sector, though, and aside from her vocal opposition to Chinese ownership of American farmland, Rollins’ views on agricultural issues are largely unknown.

Given her longtime involvement in conservative politics, however, she likely shares the same general positions on agricultural and food issues as most Republicans — that is, skepticism of climate-focused initiatives, support for crop subsidies, a desire to cut SNAP funding and a general opposition to regulations.

Environmental Protection Agency: Rep. Lee Zeldin

To lead the EPA, Trump has nominated Rep. Lee Zeldin, a New York Republican. Zeldin is most known for his 2022 run for New York governor; although he lost, it was the closest New York gubernatorial race in nearly 30 years, and his respectable showing made Zeldin something of a rising star in the Republican Party.

Like Rollins, Zeldin has little apparent background in the policy area over which Trump is giving him control. His background is in the military, and during his eight years in Congress, Zeldin didn’t sit on any subcommittees relating to the environment.

Zeldin’s voting record on environmental legislation earned him a 14 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters, suggesting a hostile attitude toward regulatory efforts to protect the environment. In a 2014 interview, he questioned the urgency of climate change. “I’m not sold yet on the whole argument that we have as serious a problem as other people are,” he told Newsday. More recently, he spoke of his desire to “roll back regulations that are forcing businesses [to] struggle” after Trump announced his nomination.

Department of Health and Human Services: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Trump has tapped attorney and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the HHS. Kennedy was once a respected environmental lawyer, but has since fallen out of favor with many environmentalists due to his increasingly controversial views, which include opposing offshore wind energy and incorrectly claiming that the COVID-19 vaccine is “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”

Kennedy has many opinions about many topics, but plenty of them will fall outside his jurisdiction as HHS secretary. For instance, he’s spoken out against various pesticides and advocates frequently for organic foods — but pesticides are regulated by the EPA, and organic food by the USDA, so he won’t have much power over these areas if he’s confirmed as HHS secretary.

How Trump’s Appointees Could Affect Food Systems

Let’s take a look at a few ways in which these three appointees might have an impact on food and animals in the United States.

Failing to Regulate Pollution from Factory Farms

Although food systems generally don’t fall under the EPA’s jurisdiction, Zeldin’s pro-business stance could nevertheless have an impact on what we eat and drink. As part of its enforcement of the Clean Water Act, the EPA regulates waste and water discharges from factory farms, and the agency is currently in the midst of re-evaluating whether these regulations are sufficient.

This study hasn’t been completed yet, but once it is, the EPA will decide whether to impose more regulations on these discharges. Zeldin’s affinity for deregulation suggests that he won’t be inclined to implement additional restrictions on factory farm pollution, even if the agency’s study suggests that they’re necessary. Such a decision would, in turn, stall efforts to make American drinking water safer — which was the point of the study in the first place.

Similarly, Fox tells Sentient that Zeldin is unlikely to crack down on other kinds of pollution from factory farms, specifically methane.

“The EPA has not done much on regulating methane emissions from large animal feeding operations, and we don’t see that happening under a Zeldin administration at all,” Fox says. “I don’t think it’s unique to Zeldin. I imagine any of the Republican appointees are likely to de-emphasize or deny the impacts of climate change.”

Changing School Lunches & Dietary Guidelines for Americans

One tool Kennedy and Rollins would have for influencing American food systems is the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Written jointly by the USDA and the HHS and updated every five years, this is a lengthy compilation of dietary recommendations that guides federal food purchases and other programs involving food.

One such program is the National School Lunches Program (NSLP). The USDA administers the NSLP, and by law, the lunches themselves must adhere to the DGA’s general guidance (although the USDA has some wiggle room when it comes to interpreting these recommendations, as we’ll see).

In total, the DGA influences over $80 billion in federal spending every year, and as heads of the USDA and HHS, Rollins and Kennedy would both have a major say over what’s included in the next version of the document. This, in turn, would give them indirect influence over how a number of federal food programs operate.

For instance, Kennedy is a longtime opponent of ultra-processed foods, and has said that he wants them out of school lunches “immediately.” As head of HHS, Kennedy wouldn’t have any direct say over the school lunches program — but he would have direct say over what’s in the next edition of the DGA.

“USDA is required by statute to update child nutrition meal patterns to conform with the latest DGA, which they do every five years,“ Chloe Waterman, senior program manager at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth, tells Sentient. “Kennedy could theoretically push for limits on ultra-processed foods in the 2025-2030 DGA, which could — again, in theory, and in another five years from now — translate to USDA issuing child nutrition meal patterns that limit ultra-processed foods.”

Project 2025, the lengthy book of policy recommendations prepared by Trump allies prior to his election, recommended abolishing the DGA entirely, ostensibly because “issues such as climate change and sustainability [have] infiltrated” the guidelines, which are officially meant to cover personal health, not planetary health.

This is a misrepresentation, however, as the guidelines do not take climate or sustainability into account. This possibility was floated in 2015 during preliminary meetings about the DGA, but Congress immediately shot down the idea, and passed legislation that actively forbids the document from taking anything into consideration other than personal health and nutrition.

In any event, the USDA and HHS are required by law to publish a DGA every five years, so eliminating the guidelines entirely would require Congressional action. But simply changing what the guidelines say would not.

Cutting SNAP Funding

The USDA is also in charge of SNAP, the federal food stamps program. While SNAP is funded by Congress through the Farm Bill, the actual benefit amounts themselves are determined by something called the Thrifty Food Plan. This is essentially the USDA’s guide for eating healthfully on a limited budget, and it’s written in accordance with the DGA’s recommendations.

This means that any changes Rollins or Kennedy make to the DGA would also influence how much money food stamps recipients receive. It’s difficult to game things out beyond that, as it would depend on what specific changes they make to the DGA — and whether these changes promote foods that are more or less expensive than current SNAP benefits allow for.

Congressional Republicans have proposed changes to the SNAP program that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would effectively cut SNAP payments by $30 billion over the next decade. While this effort is taking place in Congress, where Rollins has no authority, it’s still a good indicator of where Republican Party officials stand on the issue of food stamps: they want to cut them.

Lifting Restrictions on Raw Milk

As HHS chief, Kennedy would be in charge of several other agencies as well, including the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA, which Kennedy has accused of waging a “war on public health,” regulates interstate distribution and sale of raw milk — and Kennedy is a fan of raw milk.

He shouldn’t be, as raw milk is not safe for human consumption and can even facilitate the spread of zoonotic diseases like avian flu. Nevertheless, Kennedy could lift the FDA’s (modest) restrictions on unpasteurized milk sales, making it easier for raw milk fans to find, purchase and consume the dangerous beverage, which recently gave 171 people salmonella.

Deregulating Pesticides

How exactly the second Trump administration will handle pesticides is a bit of a mystery. On the one hand, Trump has elevated and heaped praise upon Kennedy, who is broadly in favor of additional pesticide regulations; on the other hand, Trump’s first administration deregulated pesticides.

Regardless, the EPA is in charge of pesticide regulation in the U.S., so this responsibility would fall to Zeldin, not Kennedy. While Zeldin’s views on pesticides are anybody’s guess, he shares the Republican Party’s general loathing of regulations, and both progressives and conservatives expect him to pursue an agenda of deregulation as EPA chief, which could include easing regulations on pesticides.

Lax Enforcement of Animal Welfare Standards

Fox tells Sentient that she expects Rollins — ”and probably anybody that’s going to be coming into USDA in this administration” — to pursue deregulatory policies that will hurt animals and humans alike.

“We’re going to see deregulation, which affects animal welfare standards and treatment of animals at production facilities,” Fox says. “Likely, policies that will increase slaughterhouse line speeds, which then risk worker safety, food safety and animal welfare.”

She also suspects that under Rollins, inspection duties at slaughterhouses will be increasingly privatized.

“Right now, we have federal employees looking at violations of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and under the first Trump administration, they had proposed allowing facility employees to do that function [instead],” Fox explains. “So I imagine that’s going to continue, which could lead to fewer enforcement actions against humane handling violations.”

Supporting Agricultural Subsidies

Every year, the U.S. government hands out over $30 billion in subsidies to agricultural producers, and the USDA is in charge of distributing this money. This is another area in which Rollins, as USDA chief, could conceivably have some influence.

While Republicans and Democrats sometimes bicker about the details from time to time, farm subsidies themselves are generally supported by both major parties. There’s no significant movement within the GOP to eliminate or significantly reduce farm subsidies, which isn’t the case with many other federal spending programs.

In fact, during the last Republican administration, the USDA actually increased farm subsidy payments by a significant margin. It did this in response to Trump’s trade war with China, which caused the value of U.S. farm exports — and thus profits for U.S. agricultural producers — to plummet.

With Trump pledging even more tariffs on day one of his second term, it seems highly possible that the USDA, under Rollins’ guidance, could again increase farm subsidies to stave off financial disaster in the U.S. farming sector.

The Bottom Line

It’s worth keeping in mind that none of these appointments are a sure thing just yet, as all three nominees will need to be confirmed by the Senate. Incoming presidents generally don’t have too hard of a time getting their cabinets confirmed, but it’s entirely possible that some combination of Rollins, Kennedy and Zeldin won’t win confirmation.

If they do, though, our food systems could undergo some serious changes. Exactly what those changes will look like remains to be seen, but it’s fair to say that in general, they’ll likely prioritize business interests and profits over environmental welfare, food safety and personal health.


Seth Millstein wrote this article for Sentient.


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