Brooke Rollins, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Agriculture secretary, laid out some key priorities to senators on Jan. 23. Those include quickly getting economic and disaster aid out to farmers, dealing with current animal disease outbreaks, developing a new farm bill and revitalizing the massive department she is about to lead.
The Senate Agriculture Committee was set to hold Rollins’ confirmation hearing Thursday morning, ahead of WLJ press time. The president’s transition team on Thursday released a select portion of Rollins’ opening statement before the committee.
Rollins, 52, is an attorney who served on Trump’s Economic Advisory Council in his first term and became a close adviser to the president. She is also founder and CEO of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which advocates for Trump’s agenda on areas such as energy, foreign policy and border security. A native of Glen Rose, TX, Rollins is a graduate of Texas A&M University.
Rollins’ influence with Trump was highlighted in a Politico profile last October that stated Rollins became “the driving force behind the Trump transition effort.”
Recently, a collection of 427 agricultural groups and businesses wrote to committee members, declaring their support for Rollins and pressing for the Senate to “promptly confirm” her to the secretary post.
In her statement to the committee, Rollins thanked Trump for his faith in her.
“His confidence fuels my determination to deliver, and he inspires me through what he’s done, and will do, for our great country, including U.S. agriculture,” Rollins said.
Rollins also said she had met or spoken with every member of the Senate Agriculture Committee from both parties.
“It is clear we all agree farmers and ranchers are the cornerstone of our nation’s communities; they are stewards of the land—the original conservationists—and they are foundational to American life,” she said. “Yet, the demands of American agriculture and the stakes our farmers take have never been higher. When farmers prosper, rural America prospers, and I commit to you today, if confirmed, that I will do everything within my ability to make sure our farmers, ranchers and rural communities thrive.”
Four priorities
Rollins highlighted four issues she faces once confirmed:
• “First, we must ensure the disaster and economic assistance authorized by Congress is deployed as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Congress passed $10 billion in economic assistance to commodity producers in late December that included language requiring USDA to issue those checks by mid-March. With USDA in transition, no official details have been released. That same package also included nearly $21 billion for aid from natural disasters over the past two years. USDA will need to determine how those funds will be disbursed as well.
• Second, Rollins said USDA staff and stakeholders need “to immediately and comprehensively get a handle on the state of animal disease outbreaks, including H5N1 and New World screwworm, and do everything possible to eradicate them.”
H5N1 has been a leading factor in driving up the cost of eggs for consumers as tens of millions of chickens have been depopulated, hitting egg-producing states such as Iowa hard. Since last March, 930 dairies—including more than 700 in California alone—also have faced outbreaks. The range of cases with bird flu, including wild birds, has also led to 66 human cases, including an elderly man in Louisiana who died after being exposed through a backyard flock.
Cattle imports from Mexico also have been banned since late November because of New World screwworm cases reported in that country.
• Rollins also said she looks forward to working with the House and Senate to pass a new farm bill “that provides the certainty and predictability our farm families need.”
Congress has been relying on farm bill extensions since October 2023. Funding a stronger safety net for farmers will be a challenge with pressures to cut spending throughout the federal government. Republicans in the House also are eying cuts to nutrition programs as possible reconciliation offsets for a tax-cut package. That will turn away Democrats who are needed to pass a farm bill through either chamber.
• Fourth, Rollins said, “We must immediately reconstitute, rebuild, and revivify the United States Department of Agriculture, responding to the clear needs and desires of the American people as set forth so well by the president of the United States across this historic week.”
Rollins will take over a department with more than 100,000 people and a $213 billion budget, with more than 3,000 county offices. USDA is responsible not just for the farm safety net, but also the country’s main nutrition support programs, food safety, conservation programs, research, rural housing and agricultural trade.
Rollins also stressed the importance of rural development and trade.
“This includes exploring improvements to the department’s rural development programs, demanding strong and steady domestic and export markets for our beautiful agricultural bounty, eliminating burdensome and costly regulations that hamper innovation, ensuring nutrition programs are efficient and effective, and putting in the work to make sure we have a healthy and prepared next generation of farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs for the next century of American greatness.”
Supporters, critics
In calling for her confirmation, the 427 farm groups that support Rollins pointed to her experiences from 4-H and FFA and her work on rural policies while serving as an adviser to then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R). The farm groups also noted the value of her relationship to Trump.
Some of the strongest criticisms against Rollins come from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which stated Rollins doesn’t have a history of focusing on farm policy. UCS also pointed out Rollins questions whether greenhouse gas emissions are a driver of global climate change. Rollins had said in a 2018 event that “we know the research of (carbon dioxide) being a pollutant is just not valid.”
Rollins also has drawn some criticism about policy stances taken by the Texas Public Policy Foundation when she was president and CEO of the foundation from 2003-18. During her tenure, the Texas Public Policy Foundation also issued policy papers critical of ethanol as an alternative fuel. The papers stated ethanol was harmful to global food security and called for Congress to reverse policies on ethanol.
Still, biofuel groups, including Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association, signed the letter backing Rollins’ confirmation, along with the National Corn Growers Association and several state affiliates.
The Houston Chronicle also reported in December that the Texas Public Policy Foundation also published a report on “corporate welfare” that called for the elimination of a state loan program for farmers, though the group’s request to drop the loan program was never acted upon.
It’s unclear how fast Rollins’ nomination could move out of committee or whether Senate Democrats will press for a long debate before the confirmation vote. — Chris Clayton, DTN ag policy editor
