At my desk overlooking the U.S. Capitol on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008, I took a phone call from a Missouri pork producer – a staunch Republican friend who had always supported my Democratic boss, Congressman Ike Skelton.

This farmer was an industry leader and an influential player in Show Me State agriculture. He was eager to share his concerns about the election of Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois the day before. 

My friend was worried that the new president might nominate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an environmental activist and opponent of American production agriculture, to be the “secretary of something.”

I vividly recall this conversation because I couldn’t believe the notion of elevating that Kennedy to a government leadership role was circulating in morning coffee shop conversations. I agreed with my friend’s worry because I knew of RFK Jr.’s outlandish positions on modern agriculture and public health.

Like my friend, I saw Kennedy as an out of touch New York elitist who had no clue about how food and agricultural systems work in the countryside. In our conversation, I did everything in my power to assuage his concerns and pointed out the deep bench of Midwestern Democrats – like Iowa’s Tom Vilsack and Kansas’ Kathleen Sebelius – more likely to lead agencies overseeing food, agriculture, and health.

A lot has happened in the 16 years since I received that phone call.

After leaving Capitol Hill in 2011, I went on to lead the food and agriculture section at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. We built an inclusive coalition of biotech innovators, food companies, consumer and environmental advocates, scientists, and farmers to increase understanding about the valuable role of biotechnology and new breeding techniques, like CRISPR, in battling significant weather, pest, and disease pressures facing farmers.

We ignited proactive conversations with the public, leaning into their questions about innovation and their thirst for transparency. And we successfully worked with Congress and the Obama and Trump Administrations, namely Secretaries Vilsack and Sonny Perdue, to secure lasting, impactful biotechnology policy improvements. 

While BIO and its partners were making real progress for farmers, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. accelerated his shameless attack on production agriculture. He filed lawsuits against makers of important, safe, and successful farm inputs and spread lies about GMOs.

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He denigrated U.S. farmers by saying they were “poisoning” food. He believes what farmers grow “isn’t even food anymore” and is “destroying soils.” He cozies up to dangerous anti-GMO zealots like Jeffrey Smith, stating that new plant and animal breeding techniques, like CRISPR, are dangerous, unregulated, and will cause “health and environmental disasters.” 

Kennedy has recently pledged to “weaponize” federal agencies against production agriculture and to “reverse 80-years of farm policy” so that only organic and regenerative farming practices are able to benefit from government programs. And he continues his debunked conspiracies on vaccines, mass shootings, and COVID-19 that are dangerous to families across the country.

Today, it appears that Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has fully embraced RFK Jr. and his cockamamie beliefs and policy positions.

The former president is empowering Kennedy to be a leading voice on food and agriculture policy in his campaign. He is allowing him to pen op/eds on behalf of the Trump campaign. He was appointed to be a member of the transition team should Trump be elected.

And a senior member of the Trump campaign, Donald Trump, Jr., even stated he would support nominating “RFK Jr.” to lead a federal department so he could “blow it up.” Which one? USDA? FDA? EPA? 

The irony is rich that it’s actually the Republican nominee who has now embraced RFK, Jr. However, the reality of what is happening is extremely dangerous for farmers, for rural communities, and for American innovation.

My friend was right to worry about Kennedy in 2008. His views and positions have only become more radical and more widely shared via social media. And now he has a platform constructed by the Republican – not the Democratic – presidential nominee from which to spread dangerous misinformation and wrongheaded policy ideas. 

The elevation of Kennedy by Trump is chilling. It represents a wholesale shift in politics and farm policy. It represents a significant elevation of anti-technology thinking by a major party candidate for president of the United States and must be reconciled with the support many farm organizations are giving to the Trump campaign. We would be wise to listen to what Kennedy is being permitted to say.

I care deeply about our country and especially our farm communities. I hope my friend and all farmers will look at this strange turn of events with the same level of concern and skepticism conveyed to me on that phone call 16 years ago. 

Dana M. O’Brien is the president and founder of BioHarbor Strategies and former executive vice president for food and agriculture at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and legislative director for former Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.