Where JD Vance Stands on Factory Farming and Meat

We’re in the home stretch of the 2024 presidential race, and the candidates are receiving more scrutiny than ever. One such candidate is Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee. While Vance hasn’t made agricultural policy a centerpiece of his candidacy, he’s from a big farming state, and has supported several measures as a senator that directly impact American agriculture and factory farms.

Agricultural policies usually aren’t front and center in American presidential elections, and this election is no different. But federal policies concerning farms, crops and food systems have an enormous impact on Americans’ lives, and it’s worth knowing where the various candidates stand on these issues.

Vance hasn’t been terribly involved in agricultural issues over the course of his short political career. To the extent that he has, his actions have had little impact on policy. Nevertheless, his record has left us a few clues as to where he stands on matters of farms and food.

Vance Was Endorsed by the Ohio Farm Bureau

“After two years of radical Democrat control in Washington, D.C., Ohio agriculture is feeling the pain,” Vance said in 2022. “Whether it’s energy prices, input costs, government over-regulation or supply chain issues, every Ohioan, especially farmers, knows it’s time to change course.”

Vance made these comments while accepting the endorsement of the Ohio Farm Bureau, a trade group, during his Senate run. After being selected as Donald Trump’s running mate two years later, the bureau’s president said that Vance’s “views on agriculture policy align with that of our membership.”

“Sen. Vance has interacted with our members regularly and listened to their concerns when it comes to the farm bill, taxes, farmland preservation and more,” Ty Higgins, Senior Director of Communications at the Ohio Farm Bureau, told Sentient in a statement. “Mr. Vance earned the support of the Ohio Farm Bureau when he was running for the U.S. Senate because he has a firm understanding of these issues and how they directly impact our members and Ohio agriculture as a whole.”

The Farm Bill is a quinquennial piece of legislation that authorizes a huge number of agricultural and food-related programs in the country. Some of these programs give agricultural producers discounted insurance rates for their crops and farms, and the Ohio Farm Bureau’s website says that it supports “strong farm and crop insurance programs.”

All of this would imply that Vance is in favor of robust funding for crop insurance programs in the Farm Bill. This isn’t exactly a controversial position, but it does shed a bit of light on the senator’s views on agricultural policy.

The Farm Bureau also supports lower taxes and fewer regulations for farms, and at least one bill that Vance supported as a senator would certainly further the latter goal.

Vance Wants Agribusinesses Exempt from Emissions Disclosure Requirements

Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. More than one-quarter of all emissions worldwide are the result of food production, and 82 percent of food-related emissions come from land use, crop production, livestock farming and fisheries.

In March of 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new regulation that would require all businesses registered with the SEC, including farms and agricultural businesses, to track and report their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate-related impacts. They would also have to disclose their policies for mitigating climate-related risks.

Several months later, Republican Rep. Frank Lucas introduced the Protect Farmers From The SEC Act, which would exempt agricultural businesses from the new rule’s greenhouse reporting requirement. In a press release, Lucas said that the proposed rule was “unwieldy and convoluted,” and would threaten “the ability of American farmers and ranchers to compete in global markets.”

The press release also featured quotes from various agricultural trade organizations, like the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, opposing the SEC rule change and cheering Lucas’s legislation.

When a version of Lucas’s bill was introduced in the Senate the next year by Sen. John Boozman, Vance was one of 11 senators who co-sponsored it. Ultimately, it didn’t pass.

The proposed SEC rule was ultimately adopted in 2024. It does cover farms, but the greenhouse gas reporting requirement is significantly different, and some might say watered-down, from its original form. In the final version of the rule, only businesses above a certain size are required to report their greenhouse gas emissions.

In the end, Vance was a non-factor in this dispute and had no impact on its outcome. Nevertheless, his co-sponsoring of Boozman’s legislation does suggest a hostility toward environmental regulations of agricultural businesses.

Vance Supports Whole Milk in Public Schools

The USDA operates the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which funds free or low-cost food for millions of public school children around the country. In order to receive NSLP funds, public schools must serve lunches that meet certain nutritional standards.

One of these standards regards the fat content in dairy milk, which itself is required to be served in all school lunches. According to USDA rules, schools may only serve fat-free or low-fat dairy milk to students. It can be flavored or unflavored, but it can’t be whole, or even reduced-fat, milk.

This is because in 2012, Congress passed a law requiring public schools to serve “a variety of fluid milk that is consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which is written and updated by the USDA every five years, recommends that Americans reduce their whole milk intake as a way of limiting their saturated fat consumption.

In 2023, Rep. Glenn Thompson introduced a bill that would remove these restrictions, and allow public schools to serve nonfat, low-fat, reduced fat or whole milk to students. Vance was one of 17 co-sponsors of the Whole Milk For Healthy Kids Act in the Senate. Ultimately, the bill passed the House of Representatives but died in the Senate.

Although this legislation was introduced by Republican lawmakers, many Democrats supported it as well, and despite its failure in the Senate, it passed the House with broad bipartisan support.

Around the same time all of this was happening, a similar piece of milk-related legislation was introduced in Congress. The ADD SOY Act would allow schools to offer students plant-based alternatives to dairy milk, such as soy or oat milk. Under federal law, public schools aren’t allowed to serve non-dairy alternatives unless a student declares a disability and brings a doctor’s note, or brings a note from a parent or legal guardian.

Vance didn’t support this piece of legislation. Ultimately, the ADD Soy Act didn’t attract nearly as much support as the Whole Milk For Healthy Kids Act, and wasn’t passed in either the House or the Senate.

Other Agriculture-Related Measures Vance Has Supported

Vance is a co-sponsor of the AFIDA Improvements Act of 2024, which would strengthen transparency laws surrounding foreign ownership of American farmland; the Beagle Brigade Act, which became law and made permanent an existing USDA program that trains dogs to sniff out pests; and the Spotted Lanternfly Research and Development Act, which would encourage more research into an invasive species that can wreak havoc on cropland.

How Does Vance Feel About Meat?

In August, Vance falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris supports banning red meat. This is completely untrue, but the fact that Vance chose to stoke this fear among his supporters is notable, especially considering his wife had implied earlier in the summer that he frequently eats vegetarian.

“Although he’s a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother — Indian food” Usha Chilukuri Vance said in her speech at the Republican National Convention (India has one of the highest rates of vegetarianism in the world).

The phrase “adapted to my vegetarian diet” could be interpreted in a number of ways, but some took Usha’s comment to mean that the Ohio Senator was forgoing meat entirely. Vance’s campaign later told the Los Angeles Times that he isn’t a vegetarian.

The Bottom Line

During his short time on the national stage, Vance hasn’t spotlighted agricultural policies or made them an integral part of his political brand. But if elected vice president, he may be in a position to impact federal policies regarding factory farms and animal agriculture. So far, his record suggests that he would seek to deregulate the agricultural sector, and pursue policies that primarily benefit agricultural producers.