‘It’s a new day’: Ag Secretary Rollins announces next steps to distribute $30B in economic and disaster relief

DENVER — It is a new day for agriculture, said Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins.

Oftentimes more pep rally than policy speech, she spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Denver at the Commodity Classic, 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.

“As my boss, President Donald Trump, is working to ‘Make America Great Again,’ my job is to make agriculture great again,” Rollins said.

“I also have a special message from our president, Donald Trump, who I speak with very regularly,” she said. “He wants all of you to know that he hears you. He knows that times have been tough over the last four years. He will not forget you and he will never stop fighting for you and neither will I as your newly confirmed secretary of agriculture.

“I will be your greatest champion in Washington, second only to the president. I will make sure that your voice is heard and my team will be available to answer your calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and if our team is not, you get me their name because you may have heard we’re doing a little bit of reduction in force across the federal government.

“So, it’s a new day. It is a new day, and we are here to serve you and we are standing on your shoulders, our farmers and our ranchers, and our entire department, all 106,000 employees, will be there to take your calls and make sure we’re fighting for you every single day.”

Farm Family Roots

Rollins conceded she is a new face in the agriculture community, but said she grew up in a small town in Texas, was raised by a single mother who worked at a public library and spent her summers as a kid on her family’s row crop farm in Minnesota, baling hay, riding horses and raising livestock through 4-H and FFA.

“My exposure to agriculture and my involvement in the Future Farmers of America are the reason that I am standing here today,” she said to the first of many rounds of applause.

“So, to me, serving as your secretary of ag isn’t simply a job — it is a privilege, it is a calling and it is an honor of a lifetime, because I truly believe with every fiber of my being that you, the farmers and ranchers and producers of America, are the backbone of this great nation.

“You wake up before the sun rises and work long hours in the heat, the rain, the snow and the sleet. You weather drought and floods and blizzards and windstorms and plagues and all kinds of events that you can neither predict nor control.

“You raise the crops that nourish our citizens and millions and tens of millions and hundreds of millions of people around the world. You till the soil and care for the land that is one of God’s greatest blessings to this beautiful country.”

Putting Farmers First

Over the last four years, farmers were often overlooked, Rollins said.

“As a result, the state of the ag economy, especially for row crop producers, is perhaps the worst it’s been in 100 years,” she said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest net farm income update showed the decline in crop cash receipts over the last two years as the largest in recorded history, Rollins said.

Farm inputs are up nearly 30% over the last five years, while prices for corn, soybeans, sorghum and wheat have plummeted by 30% or more over the last three years alone, she said, and the agriculture trade deficit is set to hit a record $49 billion in 2025.

“Fortunately, the era of economic malaise and decision paralysis ended the day that President Donald Trump took office,” Rollins said.

“We are going to chart a new course for American agriculture. We will not accept the failed policies of the past as excuses for what we can and must achieve over the next four years.

“We will not tolerate needless delays or layers of bureaucracy to get you the answers that you need and you deserve. And we won’t stop at repairing systems that have long been broken.

“We will usher in a new era of prosperity and opportunity, innovation and revitalization in rural America. To be clear, farmers are among the greatest innovators in our nation. It is the federal government that needs to learn from all of you.”

Doing More With Less

During the lifetime of her mom, Helen Kerwin — who was just elected to the Texas Legislature for the first time at 77 years old — total farm output has nearly tripled while total input used, such as land and labor, has declined, Rollins said.

“In my lifetime, the amount of feed a dairy cow needs to produce 100 pounds of milk has decreased by more than 40%, and during this time, stewardship of our land has decreased soil erosion by 50%,” the 52 year old said.

“And in my two daughters’ and my two sons’ lifetime — Luke, Jake, Anna and Lily — cattlemen have added another 100 pounds of beef to a carcass.”

Meanwhile, she said, American consumers spend roughly only 10% of their disposable income on food, which is the lowest the world has seen.

“We owe this to hard work, innovation and modern practices developed on your farms and by those partners in science who never stopped trying to get better,” she said.

“When I hear people say that something needs to change in agriculture, I say, yes, United States ag changed yesterday, is changing today and it will surely change tomorrow. This is just how we do things in this country, but what has stayed the same for far too long are the broken systems in Washington, D.C., including at the USDA, that haven’t been updated in decades.”

“It’s time we make it easier, not harder for you to own, operate and expand your farms. That is why I am proud to work with the Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as DOGE, to refocus the USDA on its core mission of serving farmers and ranchers, not far left climate agendas or DEI programs,” said Rollins to applause and cheers.

“So, let me make one thing clear: After four years of remote work, USDA’s doors are open for business again,” she said to more applause. “Whether you need to stop by your local Farm Service Agency or Rural Development office, or you want to come see us in Washington, you will find our staff working in person. We have a singular mission — and that is to serve all of you.”

Cutting Government Waste

The USDA is following the president’s directives to review contracts, personnel and wasteful spending, Rollins said.

“USDA’s current annual budget is $230 billion and only a small fraction of that goes to supporting you, our farmers,” she said.

“We are going line by line by line through the budget to root out wasteful programs, especially ones that focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and far left climate agendas and then actually repurposing that for you and doing what’s best for your farms,” she said to applause.

To date, she said, the USDA has terminated about 340 contracts, totaling $300 million, including identifying and canceling 948 DEI employee trainings.

On the flipside of that downsizing and rightsizing, Rollins said, the USDA has completed its review and is now releasing funds to producers for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. That announcement garnered additional applause.

“When I say our team works hard, I mean they work seven days a week, 20 hours a day, as we’re going line by line at the president’s direction,” Rollins said.

“We’re still reviewing other programs to make sure that they are focused on making American agriculture the most competitive in the world and moving our industry into greater prosperity than perhaps we have seen in our lifetime.

“Gone are the days when the USDA will be advancing the Green New Deal. Gone are the days that the USDA will be advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, and instead we will only advance deals that put our farmers and our ranchers and our ag community first.”

Payments On The Way

Soon, the ag secretary said, the details of the $30 billion in disaster relief and economic assistance passed by Congress in December will be released.

“We have been working very diligently and as quickly as humanly possible, understanding the urgency of getting these funds out the door,” she said. “Our approach is guided by three principles — we want the process to be simple, transparent and fast.”

Rollins announced it will be called the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, or E-CAP.

Applications for that first $10 billion in economic assistance will begin on or before March 20.

“I’ve asked my team to think creatively about how to continue to develop a much more streamlined application process, because the last thing we want to be is the bottleneck to get the funds that are so desperately needed,” Rollins said.

“In cases where we have information already on file, a pre-filled application will be sent to you. FSA will use the 2024 acreage reporting data you previously filed to initiate that application process. I mean, this is just common sense. Why wasn’t this happening before? Now we’re moving into the new era of common sense at USDA,” she said.

“There will also be an opportunity for you to provide this information if you missed that window. You will be asked to review the information, sign and return the completed application back to your local FSA Service Center.”

The USDA is also developing tools to provide for fair and transparent standards for calculating payments, Rollins said.

“Just in case there was any doubt, it will not be based on DEI metrics, but instead will be based on need regardless of your skin, color, or geographic location,” she said again to applause.

Simultaneously, Rollins said, the USDA is working on rapid implementation of the $20 billion in disaster relief.

“Unlike the previous administration, we will not delay for an entire year and gone are the days of progressive factoring. No longer will you be required to turn in your tax returns,” she said.

Ending The Estate Tax

As President Trump works with Congress to extend and perhaps even expand tax cuts, Rollins said she will work alongside him “to repeal the death tax, once and for all.” That statement garnered applause, as well as cheers.

“One of my greatest priorities is that we want you to continue the proud legacy of family farms of second and third and fourth generation, and we’ve got to get the government out of the way in order to allow you to do that. We will be working nonstop to do just that,” she said to more applause.

Rollins said it is “inexcusable” that a new farm bill has not yet been approved. She committed to getting that done by the end of this year, receiving another round of applause.

“I understand there are a lot of factors out of the control of those who are making the decision, but there is a new game in town, my friends,” she said.

The Art Of The Deal

When it comes to trade, the ag secretary said, President Trump will not forget farmers.

“When he’s negotiating with foreign leaders, he is the ultimate dealmaker and he is going to ensure that our farmers are being treated fairly by our trading partners,” Rollins said.

“I know firsthand how important trade is to your success and I am committed as a very top priority to work with this president to travel this world and expand market access for all of our crops and all of our producers around America,” she said to even more applause.

Unfortunately, Rollins said, some wealthy countries have protectionist policies that discourage innovation, place unnecessary burdens on efforts to feed those in need and deprive themselves and their countries of American-made products.

“As Dr. Norman Borlaug, an Aggie icon, if I may say, and others have observed, wealthy populations have many, many problems while hungry populations have only one,” she said.

“America has never had a famine and we never will, and that’s because of you and your forefathers who have worked the land. That isn’t going to change, even as agriculture changes.”

The MAHA Movement

Rollins said she is working with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to ensure his efforts to “Make America Healthy Again” do not compromise farmers and farming practices.

“You can rest assured that I will always stand up for farmers and ranchers and will support the incredible work that all of you do to feed millions of hungry people here at home and around the world,” she said.

Rollins noted that on his very first day in office Trump took action to support the year-round sale of E15, gasoline containing 15% ethanol.

“Under the Biden administration, American ranchers and farmer faced many harmful regulations, particularly from the Environmental Protection Agency, which has severely limited access to critical crop protection tools which help increase yields, use fewer inputs and implement conservation practices,” she said.

“I’ll be working with my good friend and longtime policy partner, Lee Zeldin, at the EPA to unleash prosperity in rural America through a massive deregulation project,” she said as the crowd applauded.

“I believe so strongly that God has placed us for this moment in time and that we are called to meet that moment and my moment is working with all of you to truly make significant change and bring in a new era of prosperity,” Rollins said.