Make America Healthy Again is framing modern agriculture as contributing to Americans’ health issues, but a movement called Growing a Healthier America is working to counter that narrative.
According to the Center for Food integrity, the MAHA movement has shifted public perception around ingredients, food processing, modern agriculture and the role of farming in health. Emotionally charged narratives are creating confusion and eroding confidence in the food system.
GaHA is the food system’s coordinated, collaborative, values-led response. Led by the CFI, GaHA brings together farmers, food makers, retailers, scientists and health voices to reclaim the narrative, counter misinformation and strengthen trust across the entire food value chain.
Michael Whitmer, CFI vice president, told farmers attending the American Farm Bureau Annual Convention in Anaheim in January that consumers have different ways of processing information. However, one thing CFI’s research found is that shared values outweigh facts three to five times.
“Consumers need to know that you share the same values before they will believe your facts,” Whitmer said. Because of that, anyone communicating information about farming needs to find common ground with consumers. “Food conversations can be emotional and personal.”
The CFI analyzed more than 4,000 consumers to understand how Americans interpret truth, who they trust and how they engage with MAHA-aligned narratives. The researchers studied consumers’ social values; political beliefs; where they work, live and play; and what information they read and share. Based on that research, CFI categorized consumers into several different “personas.”
Whitmer focused on two of them during his workshop at the AFBF convention—the authenticity seeker and the comfort seeker.
Authenticity seekers make up 14% of the population and include everyone from baby boomers to Gen Z. They are looking for “raw, unfiltered experiences of real people sharing about food,” Whitmer said. This group believes that MAHA is on the right track to correct a broken food system.
But farmers can counteract MAHA’s incorrect findings by sharing real, genuine stories with authenticity seekers.
For example, these consumers often believe that seed oils are an ultra-processed byproduct of industrial agriculture and they blame commodity crops. The way to counteract that belief is to demonstrate that farmers who grow things like corn and wheat are real farmers who care deeply about the way their food is grown.
Comfort seekers make up 43% of the population and also represent all age groups. For them, the truth about our food system is validated by trusted experts including dietitians, nutritionists and social media influencers. They believe these people have done their research for them and they can trust it.
Whitmer said stories about traditional farming appeal to their desire for resonance, tradition and security.
