Decision Desk HQ / The Hill Logo

Decision Desk HQ and The Hill’s ultimate hub for polls, predictions, and election results.

RFK Jr. hints at major role in agriculture policy in Trump administration

By Ashleigh Fields - 10/16/24, 9:15 AM EDT

The Hill story news image

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signaled in a new video that if former President Trump wins November's election, he could join the administration to work on agriculture policy.

Kennedy, who suspended most of his campaign earlier this year and backed Trump, outlined a list of priorities he said he would usher in for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) if Trump is elected.

“When @realDonaldTrump gets me inside the USDA, we're going to give farmers an off-ramp from the current system that destroys soil, makes people sick, and harms family farms,” he wrote Monday on the social platform X, along with a video asking supporters to donate to his "Make America Healthy Again" cause.

The donation page is dedicated to fueling support for the former president.

“America's current ag policy is destroying America's health on every level. It's destroying the economic health of farmers by forcing them to get big or get out,” Kennedy said in the video. “Big corporate farms do just fine, while the small and medium family operators are squeezed to the point of collapse.”

He then touched on issues caused by toxic pesticides and polluted soil and shared plans to remove internal "conflicts of interest" within the agency.

“We're going to ban the worst agricultural chemicals that are already prohibited in other countries. And we're going to remove conflicts of interest from the USDA dietary panels and commissions,” he said. “I've seen some of what America's most innovative, regenerative farmers are doing today. They can literally green deserts. They rebuild depleted soils, wells that have been dry for 30 years start flowing again.”

“They heal the land,” Kennedy added. 

He also promised to enforce those changes after receiving an appointment in the Trump administration.

“When Donald Trump gets me inside the building I'm standing outside of right now, it won't be this way anymore,” Kennedy told viewers. “American agriculture will come roaring back, and so will American health.”

Although Kennedy has fought to have his name removed from ballots in key battlegrounds that could decide the election, it will still remain in most red and blue states.

The son of the late former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.), following his decision to endorse the former president, said last month that Trump had already chosen him to help decide key players in a potential second administration. He also explained earlier this year that a role in that administration was not a condition of his support.

As the race enters its final stretch, with less than three weeks until Election Day, The Hill/Decision Desk HQ's polling index shows Trump trailing Vice President Harris 49.8 percent to 46.9 percent. When Kennedy is added into the mix, Harris's lead jumps to 3.9 points — 48.2 percent to Trump's 44.3 person, with 2.1 percent going for Kennedy, the data shows.

Related Stories