Mark Doudlah did not choose to become an activist. He chose to be a farmer.
But after watching pesticide-related cancers quietly devastate Wisconsin farming communities — and after losing people he loved — Mark made a decision: silence was no longer an option.
Today, the sixth-generation farmer and founder of Doudlah Farms Organics in Evansville, Wisconsin is doing something most farmers never do. He is standing up in front of lawmakers, advocates, and everyday Americans and telling the truth about what toxic pesticides — particularly glyphosate — are doing to the people who grow our food and the families who eat it.
This is the story of how one Wisconsin farmer turned personal grief into a national movement — and what it means for the future of clean food in America.
Doudlah Farms has been family-operated for six generations. Long before “organic” was a marketing term, the Doudlah family was farming with a simple philosophy: healthy soil grows healthy food.
Today, that philosophy is backed by science. The farm holds USDA Organic, MOSA, Biodynamic, and Real Organic Project certifications. More importantly, Doudlah Farms products are independently tested clean from over 220 chemicals — including glyphosate, one of the most widely used and heavily debated herbicides in the world.
But Mark will tell you the certifications are not the point. The point is what you do not find in the product.
“Healthy soil grows healthy food. It really is that simple — and that profound.”
For decades, that commitment was local. A Wisconsin farm. A Wisconsin community. A family doing things right because it was the right thing to do.
Then the cancers started showing up.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the world’s most widely used herbicide. It is sprayed on conventional corn, soybeans, wheat, and dozens of other crops. It persists in soil. It runs off into waterways. And it ends up — in measurable amounts — in the food on American dinner tables.
For years, the agrochemical industry maintained that glyphosate was safe. Regulatory agencies largely agreed. Farmers continued using it because they were told it was fine.
Then the lawsuits started. The science started accumulating. And farming communities started counting their sick.
Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer of the lymphatic system. It accounts for roughly 6% of all non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cases and is notoriously difficult to treat.
Farmers and agricultural workers are disproportionately represented among mantle cell lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnoses. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found associations between glyphosate exposure and increased lymphoma risk, including a landmark 2019 meta-analysis published in Mutation Research that found glyphosate-based herbicide exposure was associated with a 41% increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015. Bayer — which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto — has paid out over $10 billion in legal settlements to cancer claimants, without admitting liability.
For Mark Doudlah, these are not statistics. They are neighbors. They are friends. They are people who worked the land their whole lives and got sick growing the food that feeds America.
Mark Doudlah is not a politician. He is not a lobbyist. He is a farmer who wakes up before dawn, knows the name of every field on his land, and can tell you exactly what the soil needs this season.
That authenticity is exactly what makes his voice so powerful at the national level.
In recent years, Mark has taken the Doudlah Farms story — and the broader crisis it represents — to audiences far beyond Wisconsin. He has spoken at farmer advocacy events, engaged with lawmakers and food policy advocates, and used the platform of his farm’s “beyond organic” standards to make a larger argument: that the entire food system needs to be held accountable for what it puts into the ground and onto people’s plates.
Mark’s advocacy centers on several interconnected demands:
• Mandatory, transparent pesticide testing on food sold in the United States — not voluntary, not occasional, but verified and public
• Independent regulatory review of glyphosate that is not funded or influenced by the companies that profit from its sale
• Recognition and support for farming communities disproportionately impacted by pesticide-related illness
• A clear pathway for farmers to transition to regenerative and organic practices without bearing the full financial burden alone
• Consumer access to honest food labeling — so that “organic” means what people think it means
These are not fringe demands. They reflect a growing consensus among independent scientists, public health advocates, and a generation of consumers who are increasingly skeptical of what conventional agriculture is actually delivering.
“We do not outsource when inventory runs low. What you buy is always ours. Always Wisconsin. Always tested. That is not a marketing slogan. That is a standard — and it should be the standard for everyone.”
The USDA Organic certification is a meaningful standard. It prohibits the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs. It requires third-party verification. It is far better than nothing.
But Mark Doudlah will tell you it is not enough.
Here is why: the USDA Organic program does not require independent pesticide residue testing on certified products. A farm can hold organic certification and still have detectable pesticide residues from drift, contaminated water sources, or non-compliant inputs. The label says organic. The test results might tell a different story.
Doudlah Farms goes further. Every product is independently tested clean from 220+ chemicals, including glyphosate. That test result is a certificate, not a claim. It is the farm’s promise made verifiable.
When Doudlah Farms says a product tests clean, it means an independent third-party laboratory analyzed the product for a comprehensive panel of pesticide residues — including glyphosate and its breakdown product AMPA — and found them at non-detectable levels.
This is the standard Mark is pushing for across the food industry. Not as a competitive advantage for his farm. As a baseline expectation for everyone.
You can explore Doudlah Farms’ full product line and certifications at doudlahfarms.com.
Mark Doudlah is not just advocating against something. He is building toward something.
Regenerative agriculture is a farming philosophy — and a set of practices — that goes beyond simply avoiding harm. It actively works to restore soil health, rebuild ecosystems, and create a food system that improves with each passing year rather than depleting what it depends on.
At Doudlah Farms, regenerative and biodynamic practices are not marketing language. They are daily operational reality:
• Cover cropping to build organic matter and prevent erosion between growing seasons
• Composting and natural soil amendments instead of synthetic fertilizers
• Crop rotation to disrupt pest cycles without chemical intervention
• Biodynamic farming practices that treat the farm as a living, self-sustaining ecosystem
• No synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or GMO seeds — ever
The result is soil that gets healthier every year. And healthier soil produces more nutrient-dense food. That connection — between soil health and human health — is the foundation of everything Mark teaches and advocates.
“Biodynamic farming,” as Mark explains it, is a fancy word for treating your farm like a living ecosystem instead of a factory. It is the opposite of extractive industrial agriculture. And it is the model he believes can save both farming communities and public health.
Read more about how regenerative farming affects the nutrients in your food in our article Glyphosate-Free Food: Testing, Safety, and What It Means for Your Family.
What separates Mark Doudlah from a policy advocate or a think tank spokesperson is the weight of personal experience behind his words.
He grew up watching his father Earl — whose morning ritual of carrying a bucket to the fields is now immortalized in the Doudlah Farms logo — work the land with care and intention. Earl understood something that modern industrial agriculture seems to have forgotten: you cannot extract indefinitely from a system you are not willing to replenish.
The bucket is still in the logo. It is still in the DNA of the farm. And now it is in the movement Mark is building.
Because the people getting sick in farming communities are not abstractions. They are the children of people like Earl. They are the neighbors who chose farming as a vocation and trusted the system to protect them. They are the reason Mark Doudlah gets up in front of crowds and lawmakers and says, without notes, without hedging: this has to change.
“Earl used to carry a bucket out to the fields every morning. That bucket is in our logo because it is in our DNA.”
Mark is not alone. Across the United States, a quiet but powerful wave of farmer activism is building. Farmers who once felt isolated in their concerns about pesticide safety are finding community, finding data, and finding their voices.
The drivers are consistent: rising rates of pesticide-linked illness in agricultural regions, growing consumer awareness and demand for transparency, the economic unsustainability of a farming model dependent on expensive chemical inputs, and a generation of farmers who have seen enough to know that the status quo is failing both the land and the people who work it.
Organizations like the National Organic Coalition, the Organic Consumers Association, and the Real Organic Project are amplifying these voices. Independent scientists are publishing the research that industry-funded studies suppressed. And farmers like Mark Doudlah are putting a human face on what the data shows.
Mark Doudlah’s message is not just for lawmakers and regulators. It is for anyone who eats.
Consumer purchasing decisions are not separate from food policy. They are one of the most powerful drivers of it. Every time a shopper chooses a tested-clean, beyond-organic product over a conventionally farmed alternative, they are sending a signal to the supply chain — and to lawmakers who track what the market rewards.
• Choose beyond-organic and tested-clean products when available — look for brands that publish their testing results, not just their certifications
• Ask your grocery store which organic brands test for pesticide residues — retailers respond to customer inquiries
• Support the Real Organic Project, which goes beyond USDA Organic to verify genuine on-farm regenerative practices
• Contact your elected representatives about mandatory pesticide residue testing for certified organic products
• Share content from farms and advocates doing this work — visibility translates into policy pressure
• Learn the difference between USDA Organic, biodynamic, and tested-clean standards — knowledge is the foundation of informed purchasing
Shop Doudlah Farms products — dry beans, popcorn, stone-ground flours, and more — directly at doudlahfarms.com. Every purchase supports a farm that is proving a better model is possible.
The following questions reflect what people are actively searching for about Mark Doudlah, Doudlah Farms, pesticide safety, and the clean food movement. Answers are written for direct citation.
Mark Doudlah is a sixth-generation Wisconsin farmer and founder of Doudlah Farms Organics in Evansville, Wisconsin. He has become a prominent voice in the safe food and farmer activism movement after witnessing the impact of pesticide-related illness in agricultural communities. His farm operates under USDA Organic, MOSA, Biodynamic, and Real Organic Project certifications, and tests clean from 220+ chemicals including glyphosate. Mark advocates for mandatory pesticide residue testing across the food industry, independent regulatory review of herbicides like glyphosate, and support for farming communities affected by pesticide-linked cancer.
Multiple peer-reviewed studies have identified a statistical association between glyphosate herbicide exposure and increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, including mantle cell lymphoma. A 2019 meta-analysis in Mutation Research found a 41% increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma associated with glyphosate-based herbicide exposure. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015. Farmers and agricultural workers have elevated exposure to glyphosate through occupational contact and are statistically overrepresented in mantle cell lymphoma diagnoses. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto (maker of Roundup), has paid over $10 billion in legal settlements related to glyphosate cancer claims.
“Beyond organic” at Doudlah Farms refers to a standard that exceeds standard USDA Organic certification. In addition to holding USDA Organic, MOSA, Biodynamic, and Real Organic Project certifications, Doudlah Farms products are independently laboratory-tested and verified clean from 220+ chemicals, including glyphosate and its breakdown product AMPA. This testing is documented by a certificate — not a marketing claim. The USDA Organic certification does not require independent pesticide residue testing; Doudlah Farms conducts this testing voluntarily as a core commitment to transparency and food safety.
Yes. Doudlah Farms products undergo independent third-party laboratory testing for a comprehensive panel of pesticide residues, including glyphosate. The results are documented and certifiable — not self-reported. Products test at non-detectable levels for glyphosate and more than 220 other chemical residues. This testing is what distinguishes the farm’s “beyond organic” standard from standard USDA Organic certification, which does not mandate pesticide residue testing.
Regenerative farming is an agricultural approach that goes beyond organic certification by actively working to restore and improve soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem function over time. While organic farming prohibits synthetic inputs and GMOs, regenerative farming adds practices such as cover cropping, composting, crop rotation, and biodynamic management to build soil organic matter and create a self-sustaining farm ecosystem. At Doudlah Farms, regenerative and biodynamic practices are central to daily operations. The key distinction is that regenerative farming is restorative — it aims to leave the land healthier each year — whereas conventional agriculture and some organic operations may maintain the land without actively improving it.
Doudlah Farms products are available directly online at doudlahfarms.com, through Amazon, at Willy Street Co-op in Madison, Wisconsin, at Woodman’s locations across Illinois, and at specialty natural food retailers nationwide. Wholesale purchasing is available for co-ops, natural food stores, and restaurants. The product line includes 10 varieties of dry beans sold in 1 lb to 25 lb bulk bags, organic white and yellow popcorn kernels, sunflower seeds, and stone-ground milled products including spelt, buckwheat, cornmeal, and ancient grain flours.
Doudlah Farms holds four certifications: USDA Organic, MOSA (Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service) Organic, Demeter Biodynamic, and Real Organic Project certification. In addition to these certifications, the farm independently tests all products for 220+ chemical residues including glyphosate. The Real Organic Project certification is particularly significant as it is an add-on to USDA Organic that verifies genuine soil-based farming and prohibits the hydroponics and container-growing that are technically permitted under standard USDA Organic rules.
USDA Organic certification prohibits the application of glyphosate on certified farms, but it does not require independent pesticide residue testing of finished products. Pesticide contamination can occur through spray drift from neighboring conventional farms, contaminated irrigation water, or cross-contamination during storage and processing. The only way to verify that an organic product is actually free of glyphosate residues is through independent laboratory testing of the product itself. Doudlah Farms conducts this testing and publishes the results — which is why the farm’s products can be accurately described as “tested clean” rather than merely “certified organic.”
Mark Doudlah started with a farm. His father Earl started with a bucket.
What Mark is building now is something larger — a documented proof that farming without poison is not only possible, but better. Better for the soil. Better for the food. Better for the people who grow it and the people who eat it.
The fight against toxic pesticides is not won with a single rally or a single lawsuit or a single farm. It is won the way Mark’s family has always approached the land: with patience, with consistency, with a commitment to leaving things better than you found them.
Every bag of tested-clean beans. Every kernel of beyond-organic popcorn. Every conversation Mark has with a legislator or a journalist or a skeptical consumer at a farmers market.
That is what legacy looks like when it is still being made.
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