Illinois soybean farmers face uncertainty amid MAHA push against seed
oils
[November 03, 2025]
By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
Illinois soybean farmers face a potential market shakeup if public
sentiment, and eventually policy, turns against seed oils, experts warn.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary,
has been outspoken about reshaping America’s diet, saying in a video
that Trump has promised him “control of the public health agencies.”
“We’ve got to get off of seed oils and we’ve got to get off of
pesticide-intense agriculture,” said Kennedy in the video.
Kennedy’s remarks are raising concern among agricultural experts,
including Callie Eideberg, principal at the Vogel Group, who notes that
about two-thirds of the U.S. soybean market goes into food, meaning any
shift away from seed oils could hit Illinois farmers hard.
“We haven’t seen the federal government take any legal or regulatory
steps to remove soybean oil or other seed oils from the food system,”
Eideberg said. “That could change, but without a legal mandate, it’s
unlikely many companies will voluntarily reformulate their products—it’s
simply too costly. For now, the real impact on farmers’ bottom lines
remains to be seen.”
Eideberg noted producers should start paying attention as food trends
and policy debates converge.
Eideberg was asked whether Illinois soybean farmers might need to adapt
their operations, or even switch to a different crop, to respond to
changing consumer trends and potential regulatory pressures.
“I know there are folks at the Illinois Soybean Association and across
the country who are always thinking about new market development,”
Eideberg said. “Whether that’s finding a place to sell soybeans overseas
for animal feed or human consumption, or creating innovative products,
experts are figuring that out every day. Soy is everywhere – even in car
seats – but there’s still a lot more that can be done to expand
alternative uses beyond the consumer market.”
For now, she said trade policy remains the bigger problem. Eideberg said
the “lack of markets overseas” tied to ongoing trade wars is having “the
biggest impact right now on the bottom line for soybean producers.”
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A soybean field is seen in North Carolina during harvest season.
Photo: Alan Wooten / The Center Square
Illinois recently banned certain food dyes, a MAHA-related move.
Eideberg warns that if states target soybean oil next, it could
create a patchwork of rules that would be challenging for both
farmers and food producers.
“Individual states are making these MAHA-related decisions on their
own,” she said. “When the federal government tried to remove certain
food dyes from our system, it wasn’t a legal mandate, it was more of
a strong-arm effort by Secretary Kennedy. Companies complied because
those products weren’t widely used. Soybean oil is very different;
it’s in nearly everything consumers buy, so removing it would be a
massive, costly undertaking.”
The bigger issue, Eideberg said, is what happens when individual
states start passing their own MAHA-related laws.
“That becomes a nightmare for companies who are trying to sell their
products in all 50 states but potentially need 50 different
formulations for those products,” she said.
To counter this, a coalition of food companies in Washington D.C.
has formed to push for federal preemption, where the federal
government asserts sole authority over food regulation, preventing
states from setting conflicting rules.
“There’s a lot of money behind this effort,” Eideberg said. “It’s
just getting started, and it’s going to take a little while. But
this could be a way to make federal law the standard, so states no
longer have the authority to act independently.”
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