ATR: MAHA Report cites Pesticides, Iowa Fights Imminent Domain & Montana Bans Lab Meat @americaunwon

About this episode

Independent ag-journalist Keely Covello (America UnWon) discusses the MAHA report's careful line on pesticide reassessment without banning tools farmers rely on, Iowa's landowner-protection bill against carbon-pipeline eminent domain (a passionate, fully aligned segment where both hosts strongly oppose federal eminent domain overriding state protections for a technology — CO2 pipelines — Covello argues exists only because of taxpayer subsidy rather than free-market demand), Montana's ban on lab-grown meat (both broadly agree the free market has already rejected lab meat, and prefer deregulation over bans, while noting the meat-packer consolidation problem complicates a purely free-market framing), and Brazil's bird-flu outbreak disrupting global poultry trade (Covello criticizes the prior administration's mass-culling response as overreaction). Covello's Peter Thiel paradox is a critique of the term "regenerative agriculture" as needlessly divisive within a farming community that should be unified against shared external threats (corporate consolidation, regulatory overreach) — earning an unusually high 8.0 score from Vance. Her worthy adversary is Will Harris, a respected regenerative-ag communicator she feels is sometimes too publicly critical of conventional practices in ways that damage the industry's broader messaging to skeptical urban audiences.

“A CO2 pipeline that benefits a corporation with foreign backing... buries carbon dioxide underground and gives billions of dollars in taxpayer money to a single entity. Is that really in the public interest?”

“Whoever is doing this, fuck you... you can't come in and say, well, if we get enough people that say we want your land, then we can just take it.”

“I have to say I have some questions about our use of the term regenerative. I think it can become a little bit exclusionary... we should have each other's backs in this industry.”

Key moments

• MAHA report's balanced pesticide-reassessment stance — Covello supports continued scientific reevaluation while cautioning against losing agricultural productivity gains; both praise the administration's apparent responsiveness to farmer/rancher concerns (citing the Mod family case).
• Iowa carbon-pipeline eminent domain fight — a fully unified, passionate segment; Covello frames CO2 pipelines as existing only via taxpayer subsidy rather than genuine market demand, and Vance delivers an emphatic profanity-laced defense of property rights against federal override.
• Montana's lab-grown-meat ban — both broadly support free-market rejection of lab meat over legislative bans, while acknowledging meat-packer consolidation (JBS, Tyson, Cargill) complicates a purely deregulatory solution; a listener comment about Indiana's two-year ban-then-clear-labeling approach is discussed as an interesting middle path.
• Brazil bird-flu outbreak — Covello criticizes the prior administration's mass poultry culling as an overreaction that spiked egg prices; expresses more confidence in the current USDA's border-protection approach.
• Covello's Peter Thiel paradox — critiques "regenerative" as a divisive, exclusionary term within agriculture, arguing internal industry infighting weakens farmers' position against shared external threats; scored 8.0 by Vance, his highest recorded reaction in this batch.