Health secretary says improving farmland soil is key to producing nutritious foods to fight chronic health issues.
BANDERA, Texas—Deep in the heart of Texas, regenerative agriculture devotees showed up to hear Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak about the connection between healthy land and healthy food.
On May 2, Kennedy served as the keynote speaker at a regenerative farming summit held at Sovereignty Ranch, a 200-acre regenerative farm and ranch outfit founded by Mollie Engelhart.
Kennedy advocated expanding regenerative farming to produce nutrient-rich foods for American tables. The pilot program aims to make regenerative agriculture more accessible to farmers by reducing red tape.
“If you don’t have any nutrients, the food is not food,” Kennedy told a packed house.
Some 200 people attended the two-day event, sponsored by Sovereignty Ranch, AcresUSA, and American Regeneration, which featured speakers on topics including soil health, biodiversity, and technological advances in herbicide-free farming.
In December 2025, Kennedy joined Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to announce a $700 million regenerative agriculture initiative to improve Americans’ diet and health, starting with soil enrichment for crop production.
Kennedy, who sparked the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, noted that the program is one way the Trump administration is fulfilling the objectives of the MAHA Report, such as eliminating chronic disease through healthier food.
“This is the fulfillment of a promise,” Kennedy said at the time, referring to the report. One of the recommendations was to make it easier for farmers to have an “off-ramp” to move away from chemicals used in agriculture.
At the summit, Kennedy called for expanding the regenerative farming pilot program to $50 billion to transform the country’s agricultural system.
He added that the response to the pilot rollout was overwhelming: “They got 13,000 applications within a few days.”
Many practitioners see regenerative farming as the holy grail for healing American farmland by reducing chemical fertilizer use, and eliminating or controlling weeds and pests naturally.
“Our health is directly related to our food, and the quality of our food is directly related to and depending on the quality of our soils,” Kennedy said.
