The Food Fight That Could Change What’s in Your Pantry

But the fight itself? It’s going to expose just how broken the whole system is.

Here’s the setup: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to officially define “ultra-processed food.” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the corn industry needs to be “part of the conversation.” And somewhere in the middle are American farmers trying to make a living and American families trying to stay healthy.

Let us explain why this matters even though both these guys are missing the point.

The Corn Situation

Quick question: when’s the last time you ate something with corn in it?

If you said “I don’t really eat that much corn,” I have news for you. The Nebraska Corn Board says about 75% of all processed food in the United States contains corn. Not just the obvious stuff.

High fructose corn syrup? Corn. Corn starch? Corn. Corn oil? Corn. Dextrose, maltodextrin, xanthan gum—all those ingredients you can’t pronounce? Often corn. The meat you eat? Fed on corn.

Americans consumed 1.38 million bushels of corn in 2023. It’s everywhere.

This matters because the entire American corn economy depends on processing. Take away those markets and corn prices crash. Farmers who’ve been told for decades to grow corn suddenly can’t make their costs. Family farms that survived on corn income go under.

The Health Situation Nobody Addressed For Decades

Meanwhile, the CDC reports that American adults get 53% of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods. Kids? 63%.

A 2024 British Medical Journal review found this diet increases your risk of dying from pretty much anything, and links to more than 30 health conditions.

Where were Kennedy and Rollins when this was happening? Where was USDA when they were designing subsidies that made it profitable to grow corn for processing instead of growing food for people? Where was HHS when ultra-processed foods took over school cafeterias and grocery stores?

They were right there, part of the system that built this mess.

The Definition Fight That Misses the Point

Kennedy wants the FDA to define “ultra-processed food” so people can make informed choices. Sounds reasonable until you realize the same agencies that let this happen are now going to decide what warnings to put on it.

Rollins says corn farmers need to be protected. Also sounds reasonable until you remember that USDA subsidies are what pushed farmers into this corn-for-processing model in the first place.

Neither of them is actually talking about transforming the system. They’re arguing about how to label the products of a broken system.

The People Actually Doing the Work

You know who’s not getting a seat at this table?

The regenerative farmers who figured out how to grow nutrient-dense food without destroying soil. The families running CSAs that feed their communities. The farmers markets connecting people to real food. The parents trying to navigate a food system designed to make ultra-processed food the cheapest, easiest option.

Those are the people who’ve been solving this problem from the ground up while Washington was busy creating it.

Farmers like the ones working with Practical Farmers of Iowa, implementing cover crops and reduced tillage because it works for their land and their health—not because a bureaucrat told them to.

Communities like the ones in Polk County spending $40 million to clean their own water because they couldn’t wait for federal help.

Families making different choices despite a system that makes healthy food more expensive and harder to access.

These are the heroes. Not the cabinet secretaries trying to fix what they helped break.

What This Fight Actually Reveals

Here’s what’s wild about this whole thing: the fight itself exposes the absurdity.

If you need federal agencies to debate what counts as ultra-processed food, you’ve already admitted the food system is fundamentally broken. Real food doesn’t need a definition. An apple is an apple. A carrot is a carrot.

The fact that we need bureaucrats to tell us whether something is too processed to be healthy means we’ve let the food supply get so corrupted that we can’t even tell anymore.

And the solution both sides are offering? More bureaucracy. More definitions. More labeling requirements. More of the same thinking that got us here.

Neither Kennedy nor Rollins is talking about:

• Restructuring subsidies to support farmers growing diverse, nutritious crops
• Breaking up the agricultural monopolies that control what farmers can grow profitably
• Building regional food systems that don’t depend on industrial processing
• Supporting the transition to regenerative agriculture that builds soil instead of depleting it
• Making fresh, whole food as accessible and affordable as processed junk

Because that would require admitting their agencies have been part of the problem.

The Corn Farmers Stuck in the Middle

Let’s be clear about something: corn farmers aren’t the bad guys here.

They’re growing what the system rewards them for growing. USDA subsidies favor corn. Markets for corn are guaranteed through processing and ethanol. The infrastructure for corn is built. The loans are structured around corn. The insurance works for corn.

A farmer can’t just wake up tomorrow and switch to growing vegetables or implementing diverse crop rotations when their entire operation is financed and insured around corn.

The same agencies now debating definitions are the ones who built this trap. They pushed farmers into monoculture corn. They created the subsidy structure. They approved the consolidation that left farmers with no negotiating power.

Now Kennedy wants to essentially put warning labels on the products that keep corn farmers afloat, and Rollins wants to protect farmers by defending the broken system.

Meanwhile, the farmers actually trying to transition to regenerative practices? They’re doing it despite Washington, not because of it.

What Changes (And What Doesn’t)

Here’s what will probably happen:

The FDA will eventually create some definition of ultra-processed food after corn lobbyists and health advocates fight it out. It’ll be a compromise that satisfies nobody. Some labels will change. Some products will get reformulated. The fundamental system won’t budge.

Corn will still be subsidized. Processing will still be profitable. The cheapest calories will still be the least nutritious. Farmers will still be trapped in a system they didn’t design. Families will still struggle to afford real food.

Because neither Kennedy nor Rollins is actually proposing to change the system.

Where Real Change Happens

The good news? Real change doesn’t need them.

It’s happening right now in communities across the country. Farmers transitioning to regenerative practices. Families choosing different food. Communities building local food systems. People connecting directly with the farmers growing their food.

These aren’t waiting for Washington to decide what ultra-processed means. They’re too busy actually fixing the problem.

Every farmer who switches to regenerative practices despite the subsidies favoring monoculture—that’s change.

Every family that supports local farmers even though it takes more effort—that’s change.

Every community that builds food access programs for people who can’t afford the farmers market—that’s change.

Every parent who teaches their kid where food actually comes from—that’s change.

That’s the movement that matters. Not two cabinet secretaries arguing over definitions.

The Bottom Line

This fight between Kennedy and Rollins is going to be loud. It’ll generate headlines. It might even result in some new labels or regulations.

But it won’t fix the system because they’re both part of the system.

Real change comes from farmers brave enough to try different methods. From families committed to better food despite the obstacles. From communities building alternatives from the ground up.

The bureaucrats will keep fighting about definitions while the real work happens in fields, at farmers markets, in community gardens, and around kitchen tables.

That’s where you put your faith. Not in the people who helped create the mess arguing about how to label it.

Support the farmers doing regenerative work. Feed your family the best you can with what you’ve got. Build community around real food. Push for the systemic changes that actually matter—breaking up monopolies, restructuring subsidies, supporting transitions to better farming.

And when Kennedy and Rollins finish their fight and declare victory over some compromise definition?

Just remember: the real heroes never needed their permission to start fixing things in the first place.