How an Industry That Runs on Pesticides Won Over RFK Jr.

What do Gen Z fashion influencers and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have in common?

They are both, all of a sudden, really into cotton.

“Crunchy girled so hard now I’m wearing organic cotton socks, only cotton workout clothes,” begins one recent viral TikTok.

“Yes: plant, not plastic,” Kennedy wrote on X last month. “... American-grown cotton supports our farmers, strengthens rural communities, fuels U.S. manufacturing, and gives families a natural alternative to synthetic, plastic-based materials.”

Kennedy’s post was in response to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ sweeping initiative to strengthen the U.S. cotton industry. It was also a direct callback to a cotton-industry-backed, yearlong marketing campaign designed to make cotton more appealing to the Make America Healthy Again movement.

The title of that campaign: “Plant Not Plastic.”

How did cotton, a struggling industry that’s dependent on MAHA-reviled pesticides, position itself so successfully among Kennedy’s pet issues? And has it won over the greater MAHA community?

The answers to those questions are part of an ongoing tug-of-war between the MAHA movement’s anti-chemical goals and entrenched industrial interests. They’re also a central part of the growing list of contradictions plaguing the MAHA movement’s priorities on everything from plastics to clean food.

The result: Kennedy, in pursuit of microplastic-free clothes, is repeating word-for-word a marketing campaign that also appeared on the social media accounts of Bayer, the chemical corporation that produces the glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup.

“This is just, in our opinion, another way for Bayer Monsanto to solidify their foothold in American farming, and we found it offensive that they tried to say that this was a MAHA-backed initiative, because it absolutely was not,” said Hannah Dunning, the founder of the Clean Clothing Coalition. (Bayer acquired Monsanto, the original manufacturer of Roundup, in 2018 and did away with its politically charged name.)

Dunning called Rollins’ Great American Cotton Plan the “antithesis of what we were hoping for.”

“BAYER-MONSANTO JUST DUPED MAHA INTO SUPPORTING ITS TAKEOVER OF THE AMERICAN CLOTHING INDUSTRY,” wellness influencer Lauren Lee wrote on X.

A spokesperson for Bayer said via email the company was not involved in the creation of the Great American Cotton Plan, the “Plant Not Plastic” campaign or lobbying federal agencies on the dangers of microplastics or the benefits of cotton.

But they added, “We support initiatives of many of our grower groups, including those of the National Cotton Council.”

In a statement, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard said the agency is “committed to empowering America’s cotton growers as they face increasing foreign competition and a flood of cheap synthetic products” and is “raising awareness about petroleum-based synthetic fibers and concerns related to microplastic shedding.”

“Secretary Kennedy believes in providing consumers with information to make more informed choices,” Hilliard said.

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In some ways, the blossoming (no pun intended) relationship between cotton and Kennedy can be traced back to last year’s MAHA Commission Report.

That report, released in May 2025, posed a major problem for the cotton industry. It was critical of pesticides and herbicides and said clothing can expose children to potentially dangerous microplastics — without differentiating between natural and synthetic fibers.

The National Cotton Council of America, the cotton world’s leading trade organization that lobbies for pro-cotton policy and legislation, said the industry was “disappointed” with the MAHA report.

The NCC chair at the time, Patrick Johnson, called for the cotton industry to get a “seat at the table” going forward.

In June 2025, it did: The MAHA Commission, which Trump created and put Kennedy in charge of to address chronic childhood diseases, hosted roundtable discussions with leaders from various sectors of the agricultural industry. Marjory Walker, vice president of council operations and communications at NCC, attended on behalf of cotton.

“I was brought in with sugar, rice and wheat,” she said in a presentation at a January 2026 industry conference.

Sugar went first, Walker said. Then it was her turn to convince the MAHA Commission, which includes figures like Kennedy adviser Calley Means, that cotton was on their side.

At first, Walker said, her case did not go over well.

“They just weren’t understanding the importance of crop protection products,” Walker said, referencing herbicides and pesticides.

As a last-ditch resort, Walker argued those products were required to put “safe food and fiber on the backs and plates of our American children.”

“Both Kennedy and Calley Means just stopped and said, ‘OK, let’s dive off into that,’” Walker said.

“I was terrified because those are scary people,” Walker said. “But it went very well.”

Her winning argument: Synthetic microfiber textiles, unlike cotton, can release microplastics that can be inhaled — and then accumulate in “your brains, your lungs, your heart.”

There is a growing body of scientific research on the health risks of microplastics, some of which backs up the claims made by the cotton industry.

“We are not inundated by cotton particles. We are inundated by synthetic particles,” said Dimitri Deheyn, who studies microplastics in the environment at Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

The MAHA Commission strategy plan released a few months after that meeting was different from the first report.

In April, the EPA announced it would be adding microplastics to its list of water contaminants. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images

“We actually got microplastics mentioned in their report, and glyphosate was not,” Walker boasted in the January presentation. “National Cotton Council, I think, hit a home run on that.”

Just like that, the cotton industry had an in with MAHA. One day after the MAHA strategy report was released, the NCC announced it was launching its new marketing campaign: “Plant not Plastic.” (Walker and others at the NCC didn’t respond to requests for comment from NOTUS.)

In a recent interview on “The Cotton Companion” podcast, Buddy Allen, president and CEO of the American Cotton Shippers Association, called “Plant Not Plastic” the cotton industry’s “first offensive, aggressive messaging to take on the opportunities and advantages of natural fiber, specifically cotton.”

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The U.S. cotton industry has faced significant challenges in recent years. High production costs, weak global demand, competition from cheap synthetic textiles and extreme weather caused by climate change have all contributed to declining cotton acreage in the U.S.

Despite some interest from the MAHA Commission, the industry still had work to do to convince the Trump administration to fully back cotton. Throughout the second half of 2025 and beginning of 2026, the NCC lobbied the Agriculture Department, Environmental Protection Agency and — somewhat unusually for the organization — HHS, lobbying disclosures show.

Meanwhile, Walker — whom Allen called the “real developer” of the “Plant Not Plastic” campaign — went on industry podcasts to talk about the anti-microplastics initiative. In an October 2025 interview on “The Cotton Companion,” Walker said the NCC was “heavily involved” in social media and hoped to get “influencers across the health field, as well as the fashion field,” to talk about “Plant Not Plastic.”

By Walker’s account, the campaign was proving extremely successful. In a February episode of “The Produce Moms,” an agriculture industry podcast, she said the NCC was “amazed and very gratified” by the response from business publications and agriculture blogs — but also from regular consumers on social media.

Indeed, “natural fibers” have been all the rage online — though whether that’s due to the larger conversations around chemical exposures and the risks of microplastics or to the “Plant Not Plastic” campaign is hard to say. Google Trends data shows rising interest in terms such as “natural fibers,” “cotton clothing” and “plant not plastic.”

By early 2026, even Bayer was highlighting the “Plant Not Plastic” campaign in posts on social media. The company also lobbied the USDA and EPA on issues including MAHA “legislative and administrative action,” records show.

The real turning point for the cotton industry, according to NCC’s vice president of Washington operations, Robbie Minnich, was when Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Vaden appeared at cotton industry events in early 2026. In February, Vaden and Senior Advisor Kelsey Barnes went to the offices of the American Cotton Shippers Association for an “extensive roundtable discussion” on the cotton industry, according to association Vice President Shea Ishee.

“That’s when things really kicked into high gear,” Minnich said on a June episode of “The Cotton Companion.”

At the same time, some activists within the greater MAHA ecosystem were growing increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration’s reluctance to take action to reduce pesticide use in agriculture.

In February, Trump signed an executive order aimed at promoting glyphosate production. The cotton industry was thrilled. MAHA activists were furious.

“I was outraged. I was actually sick to my stomach,” Zen Honeycutt, director of Moms Across America, said in an interview on CNN. “Supporting glyphosate is the wrong direction to go in.”

In April, the EPA announced it would be adding microplastics to its list of water contaminants. Additionally, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health announced a new initiative to develop a “comprehensive toolbox for measuring, researching and removing microplastics” from the human body. Once again, the NCC praised the administration for taking action on microplastics.

By May, Rollins had announced the Great American Cotton Plan, a four-part strategy to boost the cotton industry and “elevate the ‘Plant Not Plastic’ initiative.”

Ishee said Rollins’ “efforts to elevate cotton through national media appearances … brought much-needed attention to our industry.” She also thanked Bayer for “its continued support” of American cotton producers, though she noted she couldn’t speak to Bayer’s involvement in either the “Plant Not Plastic” campaign or the Great American Cotton Plan.

A USDA spokesperson said via email that Rollins “did not meet with any special interest groups” in forming the Great American Cotton Plan, but did meet with “small-town family farms, and rural communities.”

“She believes credibility does not come from being the largest company or the loudest voice in the room, but from sitting down with the people living these challenges every day and actually listening to them,” the spokesperson said.

MAHA was skeptical of Rollins’ plan.

“Conventional Cotton is one of the most highly sprayed (with toxic chemicals) crops. Will this cotton be organic?” Honeycutt asked on X. (The Great American Cotton Plan overview makes no mention of organic cotton.)

Kelly Ryerson, known on social media as Glyphosate Girl, told NOTUS via email that she was concerned about increasing production of genetically modified cotton varieties that require high levels of herbicides.

“It is critical that the increase in cotton production is supported by a transition to regenerative practices that support soil health and decrease toxic exposures,” Ryerson wrote.

Others, like Dunning, were more dismissive outright.

“If this were MAHA aligned, you would have seen regenerative mentioned once, at least,” Dunning said. “It wasn’t. And that’s because it’s not MAHA aligned. This is the result of chemical companies being in the ear of this administration.”

Dunning said the Republican Party should be careful of framing things as MAHA when they aren’t.

“A large segment of the MAHA population is starting to say, ‘We’re clearly being used, we’re clearly not being heard,’” Dunning said. “More and more of the MAHA vote is up for sale as a direct result.”

Podcaster Alex Clark holds a bottle of Roundup weed and grass killer as she speaks at a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

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The Trump administration has been caught between the MAHA pesticides fight and the agricultural industry since Kennedy took office. It has attempted to have its cake and eat it too: The same day a recent Supreme Court decision protected Bayer and Monsanto from lawsuits claiming Roundup causes cancer, Trump signed an executive order titled “Advancing Regenerative Agriculture and Strengthening American Farm Resilience.”

Still, cotton appears to have a leg up. That executive order doesn’t actually call for any new regulations or legislation on pesticide use — instead, it directs federal agencies to conduct more research into the health risks of pesticides without providing any additional funding.

And Kennedy’s push for cotton has the backing of at least some of the advocates in his movement.

Del Bigtree, Kennedy’s close ally who runs MAHA Action, hosted USDA spokesperson Michael Abboud on the lobbying group’s weekly public outreach call soon after the Great American Cotton Plan launched. Abboud spoke alongside Allen, the president of the American Cotton Shipper’s Association, about the “‘Plant Not Plastic’ campaign that USDA is going to be promoting.”

“This really is not only a Make America Healthy Again push, but also a Make America Great Again push,” Abboud said.

Then Allen addressed the virtual room of MAHA supporters.

“We couldn’t be happier with the progress that’s been made in the last year, in the last quarter, in the last month, in the last week,” Allen said. “It’s been a wonderful partnership between USDA, HHS, EPA, the list goes on and on — and now MAHA, so thank you for that.”

Bigtree thanked Allen for appearing on the call. Only minutes earlier, he had excitedly introduced an Iowa gubernatorial candidate who made “transitioning away from toxic chemicals” a key element of his platform — and whom MAHA Action has endorsed.

But Bigtree didn’t bring pesticides up with Allen.

“You’re part of a war on plastics, on microplastics,” he told Allen instead. “We want to fight that battle with you.”