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| Best of NAMA 2026 |
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OPINION: MAHA’S SUCCESS DEPENDS ON TIMELY ACCESS TO PESTICIDES
Feb. 10, 2026
Alexandra Dunn is president and CEO of CropLife America as it appears in Agri-Pulse
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| Alex Dunn |
Arlington, VA -- The Make America Healthy Again strategy sets forth a bold and important vision: improving access to affordable, nutritious food for every American family. That goal resonates deeply across the agricultural community. After all, a healthy America begins with a healthy food supply, rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, and grains that sustain our families and communities.
Achieving this vision requires us to collaborate and recognize the practical realities of growing food at scale. That starts with American farmers, who are the bedrock of MAHA. Without their success, the strategy cannot succeed. Yet today, farmers face significant roadblocks that threaten their ability to deliver the abundant, high-quality, healthy food this initiative demands.
To meet MAHA's goals, farmers need reliable, timely access to crop protection tools. Pesticide products help manage weeds, pests, and diseases, providing essential support to help protect crop yields. The MAHA strategy acknowledges this need by prioritizing timely pesticide registrations. Unfortunately, that is not happening.
While the Environmental Protection Agency has long been a global leader in science- and risk-based regulation, the pesticide approval system is struggling to keep pace with innovation and the needs of American farmers. The EPA is routinely missing statutory deadlines for pesticide registrations. Even after extensive human health and ecological reviews are completed and show no unreasonable risk, the agency is reluctant to finalize registration decisions. As a result, important products are unavailable to farmers this growing season.
Have we reached an impasse where scientific innovation is advancing, but outdated regulatory processes are holding farmers back? Delays not only slow progress, but they also disrupt planning and investment and raise costs across the food system.
Pesticides are often misunderstood, with perceptions rooted in decades past. Agriculture today is worlds away from what it once was. Just as cars have become safer, medicine more sophisticated and targeted, farming has modernized too, becoming more precise, sustainable, and continually improving.
Modern crop protection tools are one reason Americans can bite into an apple without finding a worm, and can count on fresh, affordable produce year-round. Farmers cannot stop a drought or calm a storm, but they can defend their crops against weeds, pests, and disease. Pesticides are the tools that help bring greater certainty to an inherently uncertain profession, enabling farmers to sustain the harvests that feed, clothe, and fuel our nation.
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