Farm Action issued the following response to the release of the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services.
This statement can be attributed to Angela Huffman, Farm Action’s president and co-founder:
“It’s encouraging to see the Dietary Guidelines put whole, minimally processed foods back at the center. The federal government is the largest purchaser of food in the country, and these guidelines influence what schools, the military, and other institutions buy with public dollars. That purchasing power shapes the markets farmers depend on.
The United States is running an agricultural trade deficit driven in large part by rising imports of fruits and vegetables, even though those are foods we could be growing here at home. Our federal programs are tilted toward commodity crops for feed, fuel, and highly processed products, not the food crops Americans need. Implementation must strengthen markets for farmers growing real food for people, not keep rewarding highly processed products and consolidated supply chains.
The guidelines focus more on connecting food to the dinner plate than on how it is produced, but federal policy should also create more room for practices like organic and regenerative farming that support public health. Farm Action will be watching closely to see how this translates into procurement decisions and real access for families.”
Resources and Background
Farm Action has published additional analysis on the role of the Dietary Guidelines and federal procurement in shaping agricultural markets and corporate power:
- Putting Our Money Where Our Mouths Should Be: The Great Contradiction Between U.S. Food Subsidies and Dietary Guidelines
- Buying from Big Ag: How Government Food Procurement Reinforces Monopoly Power and What We Can Do About It
Media Contact: Emma Nicolas, [email protected], 202-450-0094
