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Regressive GOP Farm Bill a Disaster for Environment
Unjust bill weakens pesticide and public health protections, expands corporate welfare and slashes conservation, nutrition and local food programs.
WASHINGTON
Today the Republican-controlled House voted to pass the 2018 Farm Bill.
Lisa Archer, Food and Agriculture Program Director at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response:
The GOP Farm Bill is a disaster for people and the planet. Any member of Congress that voted for this bill is prioritizing the interests of corporations over the health of the American people. The bill is a massive handout to corporate agriculture and factory farms that pollute our air, water and soil. This shameful bill will slash nutrition and conservation programs and weaken essential protections that safeguard public health and our environment and regulate toxic pesticides.
This GOP Farm Bill props up pesticide industry profits at the expense of children's health, farmworkers and the environment. It slashes conservation programs that help farmers shift away from pesticide-intensive farming, weakens the organic program, and stops state and local governments from protecting their communities from harmful pesticides. It allows the chemical industry to bypass important environmental protection laws and spray toxic pesticides without regard for our waterways or for endangered and threatened species.
We applaud House Democrats for uniting against this disastrous bill. The Senate must reject attacks on environmental and public health safeguards, including preemption of local and state authority, and misguided cuts to conservation, nutrition and local and organic food. We need a Farm Bill that ensures our food system is equitable and sustainable for all Americans.
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
(202) 783-7400LATEST NEWS
Trump Agriculture Chief Claims ‘Golden Age’ Is Coming. US Farmers Say They’re ‘Barely, Barely Getting By’
"These rising costs are hitting us at the wrong time here," said one farmer of the high prices of diesel and fertilizer.
May 07, 2026
US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday claimed American farmers are heading toward a "golden age," even as President Donald Trump's policies are increasingly driving them into financial distress.
During an appearance on Fox Business, Rollins discussed Trump's upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to talk trade between the two countries.
"For our farmers and our ranchers, for farm security, for food security, making sure our farmers can prosper as they move into what will hopefully be a golden age under this president, these trade deals are very important," Rollins said. "But the president also understands that the over-reliance on a country like China has massive implications from a national security standpoint."
Brooke Rollins: "Farmers are moving into hopefully what will be a golden age under this president" pic.twitter.com/y2FRfZZVR3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 7, 2026
American farmers took a big financial hit in 2025 after China cut off purchases of US soybeans in retaliation for Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs.
The problems facing US farmers have gotten even worse since Trump illegally launched a war with Iran in late February, as the prices of fertilizer and diesel soared after Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz.
According to a Monday report from Wisconsin Public Radio, there is little immediate relief coming for US farmers even if Trump ends his war with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz immediately reopens.
Shawn Arita, associate director of the Agricultural Risk Policy Center, told WPR that price projections show fertilizer prices will likely remain high throughout the rest of the year.
In fact, even if the strait were to reopen soon, the center projects that fertilizer prices will remain 13% higher than they were before the war started through all of next year and into 2028.
"We have seen that even in the most optimistic scenario," Arita explained, "we're going to see elevated prices on the nitrogen as well as phosphate side that continues on through the fall and moving into 2027."
Bill Knudson, agriculture economist at Michigan State University, told WPR that it will also take time to get shipping back to normal should the strait reopen soon because there are still an estimated 2,000 vessels stranded there that will take time to clear out.
"You’re not going to see a return to normal for several months, even if the Strait of Hormuz was opened relatively quickly," Knudson explained, "because you’ve got to get all those ships out of there."
The Guardian on Thursday published interviews with US farmers who explained how the combined hit of the president's trade wars and the Iran war have hurt them financially.
New York-based farmer Blake Gendebien told The Guardian that "these rising costs are hitting us at the wrong time here," as the price of offroad diesel has nearly doubled since last April.
"It’s a massive cost for farmers that are already barely, barely getting by," Gendebien explained.
North Carolina-based cotton farmer Julius Tillery told The Guardian that he's had to overhaul his planting process this year to minimize his use of diesel fuel.
“I’m very careful on my planting dates," said Tillery, who also revealed he's been eating more ramen noodles to save money. “I can’t afford to plant crops in bad climates, so the production window becomes smaller.”
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Big Oil's Windfall Iran War Profits Show World Trapped in 'Fossil Fuel Doom Loop'
"Our fossil-fueled economy is rigged in favor of oil giants," said a Greenpeace campaigner. "Whether it’s war or wildfires, they profit, we pay."
May 07, 2026
An analysis published Thursday in the wake of Shell's banner earnings report shows that the largest European oil giants reaped $22 billion in combined profits during the first three months of 2026 thanks to war-driven oil price surges, which are inflicting major financial pain on millions of families across the globe.
The analysis by the London-based advocacy organization Global Witness finds that BP Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni, Equinor, and Repsol have recorded their highest quarterly profits since 2022, in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, the six oil behemoths saw their combined profits jump by 43% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2025.
Shell on Thursday reported $6.9 billion in profits during the first quarter of 2026—or $53,241 per minute.
"As lives are destroyed through war and people everywhere fear rising bills, it’s galling to see oil giants like Shell raking in obscene amounts of money," said Patrick Galey, head of news investigations at Global Witness. "These are clearly the spoils of war. It's time to break free from the fossil fuel doom loop—we need robust taxes on big polluters to insulate households from price shocks and to fund a cheaper, cleaner, more stable energy future for all.”
The environmental group 350.org said Shell's earnings report "lays bare the immense siphoning of money from households, businesses, and public budgets to the oil industry." The group has warned that oil price spikes caused by the Iran war could result in $1 trillion in extra costs for families, businesses, and governments worldwide if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.
“While people around the world struggle with soaring energy costs, Shell is raking in billions in added profit," Anne Jellema, 350's executive director, said Thursday. "The same crisis that is driving these windfalls is pushing millions closer to hunger and hardship. Governments must act now to tax these excess profits and use the money to protect vulnerable households and expand affordable, homegrown renewable energy."
US oil giants are expected to see similarly massive profits in the coming months, as gas prices remain above $4.5 per gallon on average nationwide, costing American consumers billions at the pump. The Guardian noted Thursday that "consensus estimates show ExxonMobil’s second-quarter earnings will more than double from a year ago, while Chevron profits are expected to increase by 56% for the year."
Greenpeace campaigner Maja Darlington said Thursday that skyrocketing profits amid growing hardship for millions show that "our fossil-fueled economy is rigged in favor of oil giants."
"Whether it’s war or wildfires, they profit, we pay," said Darlington. "We don’t need to let the fossil fuel industry hold us to ransom and pass on the costs of endless wars and limitless pollution. The cost of living crisis, the climate crisis, the Middle East crisis—these are all oil industry operating costs. We need to stop subsidizing them, introduce new taxes to make them pay, and start taxing their obscene profits properly."
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'A Voice That Upholds the Conscience of the World': Spain Honors Francesca Albanese for Efforts to Stop Gaza Genocide
The UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine has said nations seeking to punish her for documenting atrocities committed by Israel “want to silence everyone who demands an end to genocide.”
May 07, 2026
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez honored Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on Palestine, on Thursday, in a display of solidarity as she faces sanctions from the United States over her outspoken advocacy against Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Citing her work to document human rights violations over more than two years of conflict, Sánchez awarded Albanese the Order of Civil Merit, a knighthood granted to Spanish and foreign citizens for extraordinary services benefiting the state or society.
"Public responsibility... entails the moral obligation not to look the other way," Sánchez said in a social media post. "It is an honor to award the Order of Civil Merit to a voice that upholds the conscience of the world: Francesca Albanese."
Earlier this week, Sánchez petitioned the European Commission to intervene to stop compliance with the Trump administration's efforts to punish Albanese, as well as members of the International Criminal Court who have brought arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Albanese, an Italian legal scholar, has held the role of special rapporteur since 2022, a year before Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. Human rights organizations and UN experts have described Israel's assault as a genocide.
In March 2024, Albanese released the UN's first major public report, making the legal case that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe a genocide was being committed, referring to a litany of statements by Israeli officials establishing intent to destroy the Palestinian population.
In addition to documenting Israel's actions, she has published research demonstrating the "complicity" of nations that supply weapons and other support to Israel in what she has called a “collective crime" that they should also face responsibility for.
According to official estimates, at least 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, many of them women and children, while independent analyses suggest the death toll is much higher, in part due to the near-total destruction of health and other public infrastructure.
Many of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed by over two years of relentless bombings, leaving most of its 2.1 million people displaced and living in tent cities.
Albanese told a Spanish broadcaster that the US and other nations attempting to punish her and other international authorities for speaking out against atrocities in Gaza were "like an international mafia."
"They want to silence everyone who demands an end to genocide, an end to the crimes,” she said.
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