With the news coming out about Trump signing an executive order to shield glyphosate manufacturers and ensure they can still use the chemical in our food supply, many in the MAHA groups are shocked; I am not.

Trump stated regarding the executive order:

“I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security,”

He is doing the bidding of these large corporations, but it didn’t start with Trump; it’s been going on for quite some time. But there is a truth, food is a national security, but the only reason this is the case is that we have a large population not involved in food production.

I shared a video on my Instagram about our government being an oligarchy and how we must begin building something different. Many agreed, but a few questions stood out to me. The concern was if we stopped using the chemicals, how would we feed everyone? This is a logical question, but there is an answer that people don’t like to hear, myself included. The unfortunate reality, we should have never gone along with ‘feed the world’ or ‘get big or get out’ mantras in the 1900’s. Those were marketing ploys to let big corporations take over the food production and ensure mass poisoning.

It worked; we are reaping the fruit now.

On to the next unfortunate reality, we were never meant to live a life like we are. A life of convenience and comfort void of purpose. That is becoming painfully obvious. As more and more went to the cities in the 1900’s, as more and more turned to consumer culture, as more and more stopped growing their own food and having strong local economies, people lost purpose.

In today’s world, we search for our purpose. It’s one of the biggest self pursuits we face, and it seems it has helped create this self-absorbed society we now have.

Over a hundred years ago, your purpose was obvious: stay alive. That might seem meaningless or boring, but something to consider, the ideal of working your little corner of the world, ensuring your family and community stayed afloat, while having snippets of joy, is a noble life of purpose. Your purpose is easily decided; that isn’t a bad thing, because when your purpose becomes cemented, it’s much easier to pursue it. After all, you are connected to it. If your purpose involves your direct survival, it’s not nearly as easy to toss it away. Often when I read of mountain men, indigenous cultures, and even the colonists—I’ve wondered, how did they have so much grit? How did they actually do it?

The only answer I can articulate or imagine, their purpose was tied to their survival. They did not have luxury, DoorDash, Walmart, or social media, no comfort, besides maybe tobacco in a pipe, good sex, lying by a warm fire, or fresh water. They could pursue their purpose and enjoy the small things in life. We enjoy ourselves too much and cannot find our purpose. Farming, community, and Creation are where most find purpose....

When I share about the collapse of farming, many ask what do we do? How do we get more farmers? I’ve gently danced around the question, but the time has arrived; you need to be a damn farmer. That might sound blunt, and yes, I understand, we seriously lack the knowledge, but we are headed into dark times, and there are not enough farmers or homesteaders. If our government is amping up glyphosate and ensuring they are protected from lawsuits, they may be trying to exterminate the population.

And how do we avoid that? We need everyone growing and raising food. Over a hundred years ago, food responsibility fell on the individual and the community. Throughout history, towns, communities, villages, and tribes have all been centered around agriculture, and it’s inhabitants' skillsets.

Yet in 2026, a rural county in TN is filled with vape shops, gas stations, subways, McDonald’s, and farmers market only open during the warmer times of the year if you're lucky. And we wonder why drug use is rampant, why families have gone astray, and why people are obese; it’s because we are chasing our purpose, and not living our purpose. We are living Genesis out in an allegorical manner. We have bitten the fruit of knowledge and have strayed so far, yet we are reaping the fruit of our decisions some 80 years later. We are a step away from mass famine, soil depletion, water shortage, and complete utter collapse.

The question of how to fix this is glaring; the problem is we don’t want to do it. We want to enjoy our lives without having to involve ourselves in the uncomfortable parts. I have 3 stalls to shovel out, move a pig paddock, clean out my garden beds, and castrate our new boars—I have no desire to do that when I can easily stare at a black little box with constant dopamine hits, but it is my purpose and my duty to feed my family with the little lot of land I have been granted. It is not the government’s job; it is mine, and yours. And it is our job to form little communities thriving in food production. There is no sensible need to grow lawns when pollinators are disappearing at alarming rates, when those lawns can be food for you and the pollinators. The only thing standing between our purpose to survive is the illusion of comfort. Many of these comforts are fleeting.

It is time to rebuild agrarian communities. There is no option, it is either give me freedom or give me death, I choose freedom with dirt under my nails, an aching back from time to time, and barefoot feral children learning alongside me.

Let’s build; there is no one coming to do it for us.

References

1. Downs, Garrett. “Trump Issues Glyphosate Order; MAHA Opposes Roundup Chemical.” CNBC, 18 Feb. 2026, https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/18/trump-executive-order-weedkiller-hated-by-maha.html.

Image source: halfpoint

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