Former Vice President Al Gore took aim at standard American farming practices this week, using the platform of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to call for a sweeping overhaul of how the U.S. government subsidizes agriculture.
Speaking from the exclusive Swiss resort town of Davos—where world leaders, corporate elites, and Hollywood celebrities gather annually—Gore argued that current policies encourage farmers to produce “too much, too quickly” at the expense of the environment.
During a panel titled “How Can We Avert a Climate Recession?”, the former Vice President zeroed in on the U.S. crop insurance program. He characterized the safety net not as a vital tool for food security, but as an obstacle to the climate agenda.
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“The title is a bit misleading,” Gore claimed regarding the insurance program. “In order to qualify for these subsidies, farmers basically have to assure the government that they are not going to engage in regenerative agriculture.”
Gore criticized the efficiency that defines modern American agriculture, lamenting that incentives push growers to plant “fence row to fence row” to maximize yield. Instead, he argued, taxpayer money should be leveraged to force a transition toward “regenerative” methods, prioritizing soil “vitality” over maximum output.
“We need policies that… incentivize them to go in the right direction,” Gore told the WEF audience, suggesting that federal funding should be contingent on compliance with green standards.
The War on Farming?
Gore’s comments come amidst growing anxiety among conservatives and agricultural communities that global climate goals are effectively targeting the food supply. Critics point to the situation in the Netherlands as a warning of what “incentivizing the right direction” looks like in practice.
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In 2022, the Dutch government—driven by European Union environmental mandates—moved to shut down approximately 3,000 farms to cut nitrogen emissions. The top-down decree sparked massive protests and a populist revolt, leading the pro-farmer BBB party to a sweeping victory in the Dutch senate elections the following year.
While Gore focused on soil and subsidies, the WEF has frequently hosted more radical calls for transforming the human diet.
During the 2023 gathering, Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of Siemens AG, explicitly called for a billion people to stop eating meat to “inspire innovation.” Snabe predicted a future of synthetic proteins that are “zero carbon,” urging the world to move away from traditional livestock entirely.
For American farmers already battling inflation and regulation, Gore’s comments signal that the pressure from global institutions to reshape the U.S. heartland is unlikely to ease anytime soon.
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