Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.
An Ohio Farm Community Attracting the “MAHA Mom”
A recent New York Times article spotlights Aberlin Springs, an “agri-community” near Cincinnati, Ohio that’s become a magnet for families pursuing a return to traditional, agrarian living. According to the Times, the neighborhood has become a mecca for the “MAHA mom,” a label applied to a growing group of women who champion improved American diets and a return to traditional domestic roles and a homestead lifestyle.
At the heart of the development is a farm that feeds residents, with a farm store selling products ranging from fresh sourdough and eggs to beef tallow balm. The grounds are also pesticide-free, and residents must agree not to spray Roundup or other pesticides on their property.
Aberlin Springs appeals to people from both sides of the political spectrum, the Times reports. Leslie Aberlin, the development’s owner, describes the community as a place where “the far lefts with their pictures with the Bidens” can find common ground with “the far rights with their Trump flags and their guns,” connecting over healthy food and close community.
The community has attracted a diverse range of family types, including single women and LGBTQ couples who are drawn to the Aberlin Springs’ reverence for healthy soil, farm-fresh meals, and family-centered living. But and a shared passion for healthy soil and fresh vegetables sometimes fails to bridge the political divide, according to the Times—particularly when it comes to topics including vaccination and mothers pursuing careers.
Parents sometimes take the advice of a neighbor over that of a pediatrician when considering whether to vaccinate their child, the article describes. And many of MAHA’s followers are proponents of a familial utopia that includes a homestead lifestyle and farm-fresh dinners, ideally prepared by a mother who stays home.”
Leslie Aberlin, the community’s developer, celebrates what she calls “traditional wives” who are raising families in the neighborhood. And, a vocal community member, described modern parenting culture as overly reliant on shortcuts, citing takeout meals, epidurals, and frozen dinners as examples.
To maintain the property’s finely tuned state of political harmony, most residents just try to not talk about their differences.
MAHA Commission Backtracks on Glyphosate
The second report from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, chaired by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was expected to be released to the public on August 12, 2025. While the public still awaits the final report, which will outline a strategy for ending childhood chronic disease, members of the Commission have indicated that it will likely walk back its prior criticism of glyphosate and similar pesticide ingredients.
The MAHA Commission, created by an executive order earlier this year, released its first publication, Make Our Children Healthy Again: Assessment, in May. The report identified three active ingredients commonly used in pesticides and herbicides— glyphosate, atrazine and chloripyrifos— stating that they may pose a threat to children’s health and wellbeing. But industrial agriculture groups pushed back, particularly regarding glyphosate and how it will be addressed in the forthcoming Strategy report.
Over 300 farmers and agriculture groups wrote a letter to government agencies expressing concerns. And the the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) said it has spent the ensuing months sounding the alarms about the MAHA Commission’s focus on herbicides.
Nancy Beck, Deputy Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that the upcoming MAHA report on recommendations for action will, the EPA will continue to say that glyphosate is safe and will continue to respect regulatory frameworks that have found glyphosate is safe “until the weight of scientific evidence shifts.”
But Glyphosate has been deemed a “probable human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. And Friends of the Earth reports that thousands of lawsuits have linked the weedkiller to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Strategy report has been provided to the President, but the White House says it will require more time to coordinate officials’ schedules to release the report to the public. According to CNN, the Strategy Report will be launched by the end of August.
Study Links Gaps in Soil Health Research with Environmental Vulnerabilities
A new study from the University of São Paulo, analyzing nearly 32,000 studies, highlights major blind spots in global soil health research, particularly in regions harboring rich biodiversity but facing the highest rates of deforestation, severe erosion, and the changing climate.
Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the article finds that though there has been a significant uptick in publications on soil health — up 74 percent in the last decade — but the science is concentrated in European countries, China, the United States, India, and Brazil.
Meanwhile, gaps in research on soil health persist in Central and South America (excluding Brazil), the African continent, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Many of these regions are home to rich biodiversity but face high rates of soil erosion, nutrient depletion, and deforestation.
The researchers emphasize that efforts to address soil degradation and environmental vulnerability must go hand in hand, waring that without more targeted soil health research in these regions, global sustainability goals could be undermined. The study suggests focusing on zones where these challenges intersect could yield meaningful benefits for ecological restoration and sustainable agriculture.
The authors note that continental and intercontinental collaborations can ensure that research is taking place in areas where it’s needed most. Fortunately, the researchers note, there are examples of where this is happening.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Soil Partnership, established in 2012, has strengthened mechanisms to identify and establish priorities for action on soil health. And the Living Soils of the Americas initiative led by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Ohio State University’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center is bringing together local universities, national agencies, and research and development centers to monitor and promote soil health.
The authors call for increased funding, greater collaboration, and more equitable distribution of soil health research to close these critical gaps.
Mexico Declares Sargassum a National Resource
Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) has designated sargassum a national fishing resource, a move that broadens how the seaweed can be managed and used.
Vessels equipped for high-seas collection are now authorized to harvest sargassum under updated terms in the National Fisheries Charter. Previously limited to coastal cleanup efforts, the classification shift allows for upstream collection, potentially reducing shoreline accumulation.
Sargassum, a yellowish floating seaweed, provides food, shelter, and breeding grounds for various marine species, plays an important role in the health and biodiversity of open ocean ecosystems. But when washed ashore, it can adversely impact coastal ecosystems, tourism, and public health.
The University of South Florida recently reported a record 38 million metric tons of sargassum in the Caribbean in June 2025—nearly 60 percent more than the previous record set in 2022.
SADER’s move to reclassify sargassum expands its management beyond beach cleanup and allows equipped vessels to capture the seaweed before it reaches shores and decomposes. The government aims to collect up to 945,000 tonnes of dried sargassum annually for industrial applications ranging from biofuels and fertilizers to animal feed and textiles.
SADER called the update a significant milestone in managing marine resources and enabling sustainable economic use, and Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena praised the reclassification as a “key step that enables [sargassum’s] sustainable use”.
WFP Aid Cuts Hit Refugee Camps in Kenya Amid New Needs-Based System
The World Food Programme (WFP) recently launched a new assistance system in Kenya in response to major funding shortfalls, including recent drastic cuts from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The new approach shifts focus from refugee status alone to a detailed needs assessment in determining food aid.
Al Jazeera reports that residents of the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps — home to roughly 800,000 people fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia and South Sudan— are among the first to experience the impact.
International support for WFP has waned in recent years, but drastic cuts to U.S. government funding through USAID in recent months have pushed the organization over the edge. WFP is projecting a 40 percent reduction in funding, and has plans to cut over a quarter of its workforce by next year.
According to WFP, the significant funding shortfall comes at a time when humanitarian need is high, particularly for refugees and Kenyans in food-insecure and drought-affected areas. With resources stretched to their limits, WFP’s deputy country director in Kenya says, they have had to reduce food assistance.
Under the prioritization approach, households that are highly vulnerable or have limited ability to meet basic needs are seeing food rations reduced by 60 percent. Those who have some form of income will not receive food rations but may benefit from livelihood interventions.
WFP says the shift is intended to preserve aid for those most in need amid ongoing funding gaps. With its current resourcing, WFP will only be able to provide assistance until December or January, according to a WFP employee.
The lack of food has lead to an increase in violence in the refugee camps. Al Jazeera journalist Catherine Soi, reporting from Kakuma, said tensions have escalated. “People were very angry” about the changes, she notes. Protests last week reportedly left one person dead and several others injured.
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Photo courtesy of Matt Reed, Unsplash
