Ivanka Trump's fresh produce venture at odds with cuts to local food programs
Ivanka Trump on Thursday made her first major public appearance since her father's return to the White House, taking the stage at the Heartland Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas, to discuss her efforts to expand access to fresh produce.
For the first time in public, President Donald Trump's oldest daughter discussed her role as a co-founder of Planet Harvest, a Chicago-based 'profit-for-purpose company' created in 2023 that claims to provide 'innovative, whole harvest solutions that resolve inefficiencies in the supply chain.'
Prior to her appearance, Trump, 43, told Axios in a statement that she launched Planet Harvest 'to reimagine how American produce moves — not just through the supply chain, but across communities. … By connecting fresh and surplus harvests with those who can benefit from them, we're supporting farmers, reducing food waste, expanding access and using good nutrition to improve health.'
Trump told Axios she developed 'a real passion for supporting American farmers and getting more food into communities in need' while working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farmers to Families Food Box program during the pandemic.
The summit, highlighting America's heartland as a hub of growth and innovation, was co-founded by Walmart heirs Olivia, Tom and Steuart Walton and hosted by their Bentonville-based think tank Heartland Forward.
Trump was interviewed by Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, who told Axios that the 'decision to focus on democratizing access to healthy food comes at an unprecedented moment in our country's health care journey, where we're finally recognizing the scale of the crisis in chronic diseases.'
Huffington's comments appear to refer to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has said that cracking down on processed foods is a major focus for the agency. Kennedy has pledged to end the country's 'epidemic of chronic illness' and 'Make America Healthy Again.'
'Food can be used medicinally and food can be used to heal our bodies,' the president's daughter said on stage. 'Food can be part of the solution.'
Republicans' current support for greater scrutiny of the American diet stands in stark contrast to the reaction former first lady Michelle Obama received from the right in 2010 when she launched her 'Let's Move!' campaign focused on childhood obesity.
At the time, Fox News host Sean Hannity called the initiative a 'Obama government obesity task force' and asked, 'Does every American family need a dietician appointed by the government to tell them that this food is going to make you fat and this food is not?'
While Ivanka Trump says she wants to expand access to fresh produce, the administration's budget cuts are accomplishing exactly the opposite. In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture slashed two federal programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farms and ranchers. The program specifically aided some of the nation's most disadvantaged farmers.
One school district said the USDA's decision will wipe out $100,000 in funding that it had planned to spend on local beef and produce for students' school meals.
The cuts come as a record number of Americans continue to deal with food insecurity. According to the most recent USDA data, from 2023, 13.5% of Americans struggled at some point to secure enough food, the highest rate in nearly a decade.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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