MAHA, America’s Farmers and the Glyphosate Dilemma

After studying glyphosate for the last 20 years and having become a go to resource for brands, NGOs and government policy makers around the world on this subject, it has been an interesting few days, to say the least, since the President Trump’s Executive Order on the world’s most used weed killer.

Glyphosate is the foundational chemical for the current food system, which is a fact that no one can escape from. It is with this fact in mind that we need to approach glyphosate carefully, so as to quickly reduce its use but not to create sudden problems for America’s farmers.

The Executive Order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday has whipped up a massive negative reaction from Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters as well as many NGOs involved in the food and environmental spaces in the U.S. and around the world. It has meanwhile received a chorus of support from the U.S. chemical herbicide manufacturers and their lobby groups. ‘Glyphosate’ was even trending on X across North America at the end of last week.