President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to ensure ongoing domestic production of an important crop protection tool for farmers was made in response to a looming U.S. food security threat.
Toward the end of the Biden presidency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supply Chain Report revealed that China produces 50% of crop protection products. Relying on China for tools essential to our food production is a risk we should avoid whenever possible.
President Trump removed that risk by invoking the Defense Production Act to compel domestic production of glyphosate-based herbicides and elemental phosphorus, classifying them as essential to national security and food supply chain resilience. The order noted that shortages of glyphosate, the primary ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, which is made by Bayer, would threaten agricultural productivity and food safety.
As a seventh-generation Indiana farmer, I can attest to just how important glyphosate is to our operations. Our farm started using the crop protection tool as soon as it became available just over 50 years ago, and now, three generations later, our corn yields have tripled because of its benefits.
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Domestic production of glyphosate means the U.S. can secure a stable, predictable supply independent of external pressures, unlike what we are currently experiencing with fertilizer shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It keeps the industrial base, expertise and regulatory oversight at home while supporting U.S. employment. In strategic terms, this is similar to arguments for domestic production of semiconductors or critical drugs.
If glyphosate were to disappear, China would control our crop protection market. Imagine a war breaking out in the South China Sea between Taiwan and China and the impact on our access to crop protection products. That would mean food insecurity right here in the United States. China could always cut off the spigot and withhold sufficient amounts of the product, significantly jeopardizing our food supply and leading to serious economic and environmental damage. As I witnessed when serving as the U.N. ambassador to the Food Agencies, all societies are only three meals from chaos, and it is inexcusable to see that ever happen again in America.
Glyphosate is still the most widely used herbicide in American row-crop agriculture, especially in corn, soybeans, cotton and canola. The tool enables effective weed control on hundreds of millions of acres, supporting high and stable yields. It helps keep production costs affordable and more predictable, which keeps food prices more stable and resilient for consumers.
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It also has positive environmental impacts by facilitating no-till farming, which has increased wildlife habitats and significantly reduced soil erosion and crop nutrient loss, improving our ecosystems. I also bear the responsibility for handling and applying glyphosate for the past 50 years and am confident that my children and now grandchildren are responsible for its use and their own safety.
These are all benefits we have enjoyed on our operations in Indiana, and they have enabled U.S. farmers to provide enough food for our own citizens and the world.
Health risks would also increase if the product were unavailable to farmers. Glyphosate is one of the key tools for managing invasive, noxious and poisonous weeds that pose direct risks to human and animal health. Certain weeds are not merely pests; they are health hazards. People die from exposure to them.
I can still feel the weight of a tragedy that occurred in Uganda during my time as ambassador, where nearly 30 mothers and infants lost their lives after receiving food aid we believed would help them. The grain had come from Turkey, carrying noxious weeds from the fields, and without glyphosate treatment, those toxins found their way into the cereal we delivered. It’s a memory that stays with me, a reminder of how devastating even a small failure in the chain can be and how essential glyphosate is to food safety.
With China having such a strong hold on global crop protection tools, the extraordinary step taken by President Trump through his executive order was necessary to secure America’s food system.
