Make sorghum great again: navigating the politics of gene editing in the Make America Healthy Again movement

Abstract

Gene editing has emerged as a promising tool for developing climate-resilient crops, yet discussions of its adoption have focused primarily on technological performance and public acceptance, while paying less attention to the political realignments that increasingly shape agricultural innovation. The emergence of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement in the United States has disrupted traditional coalitions around agricultural biotechnology, creating new uncertainties for niche crops such as sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ), whose future depends on both scientific innovation and consumer trust. This paper examines how shifting political alliances influence the prospects for gene-edited sorghum in the US. We employ a mixed-methods case study combining a national survey of 402 sorghum producers with stakeholder mapping, participant observation, interviews, and analysis of news media, policy documents, and online discourse analysis to examine how political narratives shape perceptions of gene editing across the sorghum ecosystem. Although 63 percent of surveyed farmers reported being open to adopting gene-edited sorghum, their willingness was driven less by concerns about the technology itself than by uncertainty surrounding consumer acceptance,market access, trade policy, and the evolving political landscape. Our findings demonstrate that the future of gene-edited / GE sorghum will depend not only on technological performance or public acceptance, but on whether trust, regulatory stability, and political alignment can be established among farmers, consumers, scientists, industry, and policymakers. By shifting attention from technology alone to the political economy of agricultural innovation, this study highlights the need for governance strategies that address stakeholder relationships alongside scientific advancement.