Fast action: New leaders ‘moving on Trump time’ to turn ag around

DENVER — As the trade deficit and farm production costs continue to rise, the state of the agricultural economy is “dire,” lamented new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

“There are a lot of factors that go into this, but when you’ve got a $49 billion trade deficit, that is devastating to our American farmers and ranchers,” she told a media scrum before taking the stage at the Commodity Classic in Denver.

“How do any of our farmers make any money when the cost of inputs goes up 30%, your trade deficit increases to $49 billion and then you have a whole host of regulations that have been layered on over and over and over again?”

Rollins said she is “moving on Trump time,” working very quickly to deliver aid and secure better trade deals.

“We are attacking it from all sides, putting together the plan that can hopefully begin to roll that back,” she said.

“I am planning to very aggressively, with President Donald Trump’s permission, go out into the world and look to expand our markets and also make capital easier, especially for our younger farmers as we begin to build hopefully the next generation of our leaders in agriculture.”

Here is what Rollins said about other hot topics at the annual meeting of the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association, National Sorghum Producers, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the National Association of Wheat Growers.

On Trump’s Cabinet

How we “Make America Great Again,” for me, means making agriculture great again. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and I have already begun building a strong relationship, a great, hopefully, partnership where we can work together, where we begin to move forward and perhaps I can spend a little time making sure that he understands that some of the things maybe that he has been told or believed or has read isn’t entirely accurate and the importance of ensuring that our farmers and our ranchers and that, really, America understands the importance of things like pesticides and others to ensure that we are able to continue to feed America and, frankly, to feed the world.

I feel very, very confident and I’m very encouraged that as we work to “Make America Healthy Again” we will be able to do it in a very intentional way that not only doesn’t compromise our farmers and our ranchers and our ag community, but actually helps to elevate to make us more prosperous than ever before.

On Financial Aid

Everything is on the table right now, everything. I know that President Trump, who I speak with regularly, realizes the state of the farm economy and this country.

We’re building a team at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that we have the structure and the plan in place to allow us to move very quickly.

On Tariffs

Everyone is very concerned. So, we are ensuring that we have all of the data, the information that we need, understanding the decisions that are being currently made, what implications those have. Obviously, that is my role, to take that to President Trump and to the team that is negotiating, that is working on those deals, to ensure that those concerns are heard effectively and that we have a plan in place to make sure that our farm community is not compromised more.

On Crop Insurance

My goal is to ensure that our farmers and ranchers not just face more severe and dire consequences than what they are already facing — and hopefully we can turn that around quickly — but that we move into a new era of prosperity for those producers and for our ag community.

Clearly, everything is on the table in terms of rightsizing our government and I think we’ve all seen that, but I’ve also seen a real willingness from those outside of USDA as we go to them and circle back and say, you know, maybe this needs to be preserved or maybe we even need to expand this.

The avian flu plan that I rolled out last week at the White House is a great example of that — just ensuring that the government is as intentional and that as we rightsize that we’re serving the very people that we’re called to serve and that overwhelmingly, I would argue, voted for and supported President Trump moving into the November election.

The most overwhelming support came from this community and the president realizes that, so I think, rest assured, that hopefully those decisions are made with that in mind.

On Conservation Programs

Our farmers are the original conservationists. There’s no doubt about that. Our revolution was fought by farmers 250 years ago. They are the best purveyors and preservationists of the land.

We are looking at everything line by line by line. I feel confident that as we look to rightsize the USDA and all of the agencies across the government, as we look to realign the agency to better serve our farmers and our ranchers, as we look to move out things like diversity, equity and inclusion and “progressive” ideals in terms of how we move money out, those days are over. Now we look to really focus on those that are truly feeding this country and the world.

On Trade Deals

You hopefully are encouraged that while we’re entering some tense trade negotiation moments and days and perhaps weeks and maybe even months, that the place of President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and America in the world, I believe, is strengthening every day, and I do think that is going to give us some really good opportunity to strike some of these deals to ensure that we are expanding that market access.

There are so many different pieces on the chessboard that are being moved around right now, and it is a bit of a game of three-dimensional chess. But, having said that, I believe so sincerely that President Trump has such a good team of people that are extremely aggressive, very intentional, that work 24 hours a day seven days a week.

So, I am encouraged. I hope to begin making trade trips very soon across the world. I’ve already begun conversations with several potential key significant trading partners that I think will make a huge difference to our farmers and ranchers.

On Job Cuts

This is an extremely aggressive effort that I fully support, but in being so aggressive, there will be mistakes made, and there have been mistakes made.

In the first tranche we let go, as part of those cuts, some of the avian flu experts and immediately we brought them back.

So, that is, I think, a really important part of this is we are moving at Trump speed, that there will be some mistakes made and that we will fully, fully take responsibility for it and recognize it when that happens.