Kelly Ryerson has spent more than a decade pushing for the elimination of pesticides in the U.S. food system. Her primary target is the herbicide glyphosate, a widely used weed killer commonly known as Roundup.
Ryerson and other activists with the Make America Healthy Again movement have decried glyphosate as poison. So Ryerson, who goes by Glyphosate Girl on social media, said it was "heartbreaking" to see the Trump administration take steps to boost production of the chemical and protect Roundup's manufacturer from liability.
"It can't be overstated how important this issue is to the MAHA voter," Ryerson said.
The Trump administration says glyphosate is critical to America's farming and food supply, as well as in munitions. The president issued an executive order in February to spur more domestic production of the chemical.
Last week at the Supreme Court, President Trump's solicitor general argued in support of Bayer, the chemical company that manufactures glyphosate in the United States.
The Trump administration's approach to the chemical has exposed some of the contradictions inherent in the uneasy alliance between 'MAHA' voters who aligned with Trump and the broader Republican Party.
MAHA voters — a coalition of health and wellness influencers, vaccine skeptics, anti-pesticide advocates and parents concerned about toxic exposures — often want to see fewer food additives and chemicals in the food supply, which requires stricter regulation of the food and chemical industries. Those goals are at odds with traditional Republican priorities, like deregulation, limited government, and cutting federal spending.
"So many of the things that the MAHA movement wants, this administration is really regulating and legislating in the exact opposite direction," said Jessica Knurick, a registered dietitian.
"If you want fewer toxins in the environment, you have to regulate polluting industries. And what we're seeing is a rollback of a lot of those regulations on polluting industries."
The tensions between MAHA and the GOP were on full display April 27: Ryerson and other activists protested outside the Supreme Court ahead of the Bayer arguments.
And the House on Thursday approved an amendment to strip protections for pesticide companies from the 2026 Farm Bill — a massive piece of legislation that governs food stamps, disaster aid, and agricultural subsidies — after a MAHA backlash.
The discord is prompting questions about whether the political alliance of MAHA and MAGA can survive long-term, which could have implications for Republicans in the midterm elections.
The "contradiction at the heart" of MAHA
Roundup's previous manufacturer paid out billions of dollars to people who claimed they or their loved ones developed cancer after using the weed killer. The case before the Supreme Court, which is set to be decided in the summer, could limit the kind of claims individuals could make against Bayer in the future.
Bayer phased glyphosate out of residential home and garden Roundup products beginning in 2021, but the chemical remains one of the most widely used herbicides in commercial agriculture.
The World Health Organization in 2015 issued a report stating that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans." But the Environmental Protection Agency disagrees, and says the chemical does not pose a risk to human health when used correctly. In March, a group of doctors, scientists and public health researchers issued a statement saying that glyphosate can cause cancer and other health problems, and called for urgent action. Bayer disputes this; the company in a statement said glyphosate "has been thoroughly evaluated and certified multiple times by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and all other leading safety and regulatory bodies around the world as safe to use."
MAHA leaders hoped that an administration led by Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the movement's top political leader, would take a harder line on environmental toxins. Instead, the administration's recent moves sparked major backlash.
One MAHA podcaster compared the administration's reversal on glyphosate to finding out your husband was having an affair. Another MAHA leader said the executive order left her speechless.
Knurick, the dietitian, said the glyphosate issue has exposed "the contradiction at the heart of the MAHA movement."
Knurick points to the fact that Trump's EPA under administrator Lee Zeldin launched a massive deregulation push last year. The agency also narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act and rolled back a Biden-era rule to strengthen limits on air pollution.
Those moves also underscore how U.S. food and health policy comes out of distinct government agencies, with Kennedy having little control over the approach from the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the EPA.
Jerold Mande worked in the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture under Democratic and Republican presidents. He supports MAHA's push to eliminate ultra-processed foods and fight chronic disease in children. But he acknowledges that there are roadblocks to progress in a Republican administration — and it's not just around environmental policy.
Mande said the two most effective levers that a government has to enact policy change are funding and regulation.
"Those are levers that Democrats are more comfortable using, particularly at the federal level. And Republicans have historically sort of shied away from using them, [and] argued there should be a smaller government with less spending and less regulation," Mande said. "And so it's a tension, I think, that exists in the MAHA movement."
Mande, who worked with former first lady Michelle Obama on her campaign to fight childhood obesity, called the partnership between Republicans and MAHA "a head-turning series of events."
In the Obama administration, he said, "the Republican Party just dug in their heels and said, 'We're not going to work with you on this.'"
Mande said he's glad to see bipartisan interest in food policy now, and applauds Kennedy's focus on ultra-processed foods as a cause of disease. But he wants to see more action to regulate the food industry, as well as more funding for nutrition research.
A fraught moment for farmers
The glyphosate fight also comes at a precarious time for another key faction of Trump's winning coalition: farmers.
U.S. farmers had already been facing higher prices for machinery and other inputs as a result of Trump's tariffs. The war with Iran is now creating additional economic pressures, driving up fuel costs and the price of nitrogen fertilizer. Moving away from glyphosate could create another financial stressor.
Rural policy consultant Brian Reisinger said many U.S. farms rely on glyphosate and other pesticides to produce enough crops and do it affordably. He said many farmers would be open to alternative practices, but "it takes time and it takes money to transition," something most small and midsize farms are lacking.
"You can make that transition, but we have to do it with time that allows for innovation and incentives to drive this, rather than sort of forcing change with sudden shifts in policy and mandate," he said.
A dozen agricultural groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, and National Corn Growers Association, filed a brief in support of Bayer in the Supreme Court case, writing that "glyphosate has been indispensable to U.S. crop production," and "the consequences of losing affordable and reliable access to glyphosate are stark."
Ryerson, the MAHA activist, serves as co-executive director of a group dedicated to promoting regenerative agriculture. She said that in order to phase out glyphosate and other chemical pesticides, "the entire system needs to be revamped." That requires a change in incentive payments and subsidies.
"From the government perspective, we definitely, definitely need a multibillion dollar investment in helping these farmers during that time that they are taking the risk of stopping some of the sprays," she said. "It's so much more complicated than, 'Oh, let's eliminate pesticides.'"
Helena Bottemiller Evich, a journalist covering food policy, said many MAHA advocates acknowledge that a full glyphosate ban is "not really on the table," instead pushing for more strict limits on how glyphosate is used, particularly as crops get closer to harvest.
There's also concern that some alternative herbicides could be more toxic, she said, and the high-tech solutions to replace herbicides altogether — like lasers to zap weeds on large farms — are still new to the market and very expensive.
"I think one of the most interesting things I've noticed is that the Trump administration right now is very eager to criticize the food industry," Bottemiller Evich said. "But it is completely different when talking about farmers or agriculture. And I think part of that is, you know, agriculture is still very powerful on Capitol Hill."
Some Democrats try to seize the moment
MAHA leaders often tout the fact that Trump's alliance with now-Secretary Kennedy — a longtime Democrat turned independent — brought new voters into the coalition that ultimately elected Trump in 2024. That includes voters who wouldn't typically call themselves Republicans.
The fractures could pose an opportunity for Democrats to win back some disaffected MAHA voters. Many of MAHA's food policy priorities — like cracking down on ultra-processed foods and reducing the use of pesticides — are widely popular across party lines. The Trump administration has recently shifted its focus toward those food- related goals, and away from Kennedy's more divisive moves to curtail vaccine access.
Ryerson is a registered independent and a longtime supporter of Kennedy's. She said the Trump administration has "not done enough in terms of their MAHA promises, at all."
A recent poll by Politico found that Ryerson is not alone: In that survey, 47% of respondents who self-identified as MAHA supporters said the Trump administration has not done enough to "Make America Healthy Again."
"Certain things, of course, have been incredible," Ryerson said, citing the new food pyramid as "an enormous feat that shouldn't be underestimated."
"The problem is that the food and farming system hasn't been addressed," she continued. "And yes, those voters that took a chance on this administration are going to walk."
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said that the MAHA friction over pesticides gives Democrats "a second chance, [and] we need to take it."
Lake said that the MAHA coalition has expanded far beyond its original base of vaccine opponents to include "organic moms," suburban women, younger women and younger men. Those voters, she said, could now be in play — if Democrats take more aggressive positions on pesticides, toxins and food safety.
"They already feel betrayed. We have to offer them an alternative," Lake said. "You can't beat something with nothing … We have to say no, we're different. And, you know we're different because we've been different in these other arenas. You know we'll take on the chemical companies. You know, we'll take on microplastics. You know, we'll take on the toxics and the pesticides. [Republicans] won't. They just proved they won't."
Some Democrats have been reaching out to MAHA in hopes of winning back some disaffected supporters, who Lake said may stay home in November if they're not satisfied with their choices. A new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly two-thirds of MAHA supporters identified as Republican or Republican-leaning — including 52% who identified as "MAGA Republicans," while 21% identified as Democrats or Democratic-leaning. Ten percent identified as independents.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., filed a brief opposing Bayer's arguments. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine., co-sponsored a bill called the No Immunity for Glyphosate Act and joined the MAHA protesters outside the Supreme Court. The amendment to strip liability protections from the Farm Bill received more Democratic than Republican support in the House.
But Jeff Grappone, a Republican communications strategist, stressed that Democrats "will be competing with someone who has already shown a willingness to bring these issues into the national conversation," Going into the midterms, Grappone said, Trump needs to remind MAHA voters of the steps he's taken on their issues so far.
"The president is giving MAHA voters a platform for their issues for the first time. He brought along RFK Jr. into the administration. He's taken steps to improve nutrition, to update dietary guidelines. He's been able to show some progress," Grappone said. "But there has to be a recognition on the part of MAHA voters that policy is a long play, and no movement gets everything it wants on day one or even in year one."
Ryerson and other activists met with President Trump and cabinet officials at the White House last month. She said she's hopeful that the administration can correct its course on MAHA issues, but that MAHA voters need to see meaningful action between now and November if they're going to turn out for Republicans in the midterms.
Ryerson also said she knew that throwing her support behind Trump was a gamble.
"I think that the appeal of Trump ... is that it was going to take someone that was so irreverent to actually stand up to the pesticide companies and chemical companies and say we're done," She said. "We always had this hope and it was like, is there someone that is going to give the middle finger to a special interest if he can be convinced that that's the best thing to do? Who's going to do that? Probably Trump, right?"
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