HOUSE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
HEARING WITH AGRICULTURE SECRETARY ROLLINS
For questions on the note below, please contact the Delta Strategy Group team.
On June 4, the House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing to receive testimony from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins, with her testimony available here.
Below is a summary of the hearing prepared by Delta Strategy Group. It includes several high-level takeaways, followed by summaries of opening statements and discussion.
Key Takeaways
- Discussions referenced agricultural trade policy impacts on producers, with references to improved foreign market access, U.S. agricultural product purchase commitments, and trade deals.
- Secretary Rollins outlined how the administration has produced nineteen new trade deals and that the agricultural trade deficit is expected to be cut by 42 percent, despite the $45 billion inherited agricultural trade deficit. She emphasized a whole-of-administration approach to mitigating inherited and ongoing challenges to the farm economy.
- Several Representatives highlighted cotton export competitiveness, domestic textile manufacturing, and rebuilding lost U.S. market share ceded to Brazil. Rollins stated that the Great American Cotton Plan and the Buying American Cotton Act (BACA) are aligned to reassert U.S. cotton dominance, strengthen demand for U.S.-grown fiber, and support domestic textile manufacturing.
- Representative Budzinski (D-IL) raised the role of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Set Two final rule in accelerating domestic biofuel production, as well as the impact of coupling the USDA feedstock rule with the 45Z Clean Fuel Credit. On the status of the feedstock rule, Secretary Rollins stated completion is imminent and expected this summer.
- Representatives Rose (R-TN) and Feenstra (R-IA) discussed expanding domestic markets, increasing demand, and supporting producers through year-round E15 and biofuels market expansion. Rollins framed year-round E15 as an opportunity to expand domestic markets and support producers, alongside citing expected increases in ethanol and corn exports within broader efforts to strengthen domestic demand.
- Members discussed fertilizer availability, affordability, domestic production, and supply chain resilience, with references to supply chain disruptions related to the Strait of Hormuz. Rollins highlighted short-term actions, including opening supply lines and accelerating fertilizer projects, while emphasizing longer-term efforts to reshore fertilizer production and reduce reliance on foreign countries.
- Democrats raised concerns regarding retaliatory tariffs, reduced export demand and market losses, farm bankruptcies, and increasing input costs, specifically diesel and fertilizer.
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chairman GT Thompson (R-PA)
The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill was the largest investment in U.S. agriculture in a generation. Last week, USDA announced the sign-up process for producers to take advantage of the thirty million base acres added to the ARC and PLC commodity program, with these investments rolling out in a timely manner. President Trump wants a Farm Bill on his desk, and we look forward to getting him one to sign in the near future. The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 is a significant step forward for producers. For critical crop inputs like fertilizer, we must focus on solutions for today and the future. The administration’s approach to domestic fertilizer production does exactly that. The Farmer Bridge Assistance Program was a necessary step to hold producers over until updated policies kick in and as we work to get our farm economy back on stable ground.
Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-MN)
During your confirmation hearing, Republicans and Democrats voiced their concerns about input costs, commodity prices, and tariffs. President Trump doubled down on his reckless tariff agenda, destroying critical export markets and driving up costs. It cost farmers an estimated $15 billion in lost sales to China last year alone. While farmers were reeling from the fallout of tariffs and calling on the administration for relief, President Trump gave Argentina $20 billion. When you finally listened to the pleas from farm country, it was woefully inadequate, picking winners and losers by providing some farmers with only a fraction of the relief they needed. Only six percent of farmers reported that their financial situation improved from last year. Farm bankruptcies surged 46 percent nationwide and seventy percent in the Midwest. This April, farm bankruptcies surged to their highest monthly total since early 2020 during President Trump’s first term. This administration started a war with Iran with forethought for what the consequences would be for U.S. agriculture. As a result, critical supplies have been choked off from leaving the Strait of Hormuz, driving fertilizer and diesel costs to staggering new levels and making it nearly impossible for farmers to turn a profit.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins
Under the previous administration, commodity prices plummeted from a thirty-year high, farm income experienced historic declines, and farmers saw not one new trade deal. We left an $8 billion agricultural trade surplus in 2021 and came back to a $50 billion agricultural trade deficit. We have worked nonstop to reverse this trajectory, but such a seismic reroute cannot happen overnight. President Trump and congressional Republicans delivered historic wins in the Working Families Tax Cuts Bill, including increasing reference prices for the first time in over a decade and adding up to thirty million new base acres for farm safety net programs. Input costs remain top of mind, including fertilizer availability and affordability. We will meet this fertilizer challenge, as well as other input challenges in the future. We have secured nineteen new trade deals in one year and are leveling the playing field, ensuring farmers can compete in global markets. We predict that the $50 billion agricultural trade deficit that we inherited will be cut by 42 percent in one year. We expect that this year, U.S. producers will set export records in key global markets. As we expand opportunity for the long term, we are providing the short-term support for farmers needed. USDA has delivered targeted, direct relief to help farmers weather rising input costs, devastating storms, and market disruptions. The last administration turned a blind eye as cotton growers suffered. For the first time in U.S. history, we became number two in cotton exports when Brazil took over yet another market from us during the last administration. Reasserting U.S. cotton dominance is essential, which is why we are going big, as well as on many other commodities, in the days ahead. This administration has been clear that farm security is national security. Last summer, we launched our National Farm Security Action Plan that boldly integrates agriculture into the U.S. national security strategy for the first time. Our plan treats farmland ownership and food supply chains as the major national security issues they are.
DISCUSSION
Farm Economy & Input Costs
Ranking Member Craig (D-MN): Do you know how many farms we lost last year and how much money farmers lost last year? Rollins: About 315 farms out of 1.88 million are moving through bankruptcy right now. It depends on how you calculate losses, and you are not accounting for all the crop protection, insurance, and programs that went through to support farmers.
Ranking Member Craig: What is the national average price of farm diesel right now, given that in May diesel averaged $5.41 per gallon, up 95 percent from a year earlier? Rollins: The price of diesel has increased because of the Iranian conflict. Before the conflict, it had gone way up. Under the last administration, all input costs increased by about forty percent. That is what we inherited.
Ranking Member Craig: Are you aware that seventy percent of farmers cannot afford fertilizer because of the President’s war in Iran? Rollins: Fertilizer affordability depends on location. Seventy percent is not correct. Ammonia prices increased about forty percent based on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The other three fertilizers are more stable and we are monitoring them closely. The price went up almost ninety percent during the Biden years.
Representative Brown (D-OH): Are you aware that farm bankruptcies increased by 46 last year or how estimates show farm income fell $25 billion following the implementation of tariffs? Are you aware that six out of ten farmers report that their financial situation is getting worse? Rollins: The farm income estimates were based on the years before we lost our export markets.
Representative Bost (R-IL): How is the USDA working to address input costs and support producers who must purchase inputs quickly to get crops planted? Rollins: When we took over, it was a perfect storm. The agricultural trade surplus that we left in early 2021 had become a $50 billion agricultural trade deficit, with not one new trade deal, combined with the average cost of inputs for our farmers increasing forty percent under the last administration. All of that is coming down now. The Iranian conflict has caused a blip in that effort. For the short term, we are waiving the Jones Act, waiving some Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements, opening lines from Venezuela and other places, and ensuring that farmers have the fertilizer they need. For the long term, we will reshore fertilizer so we do not depend on China.
Representative Salinas (D-OR): Are you aware that roughly thirty percent of the world’s fertilizers move through the Strait of Hormuz and that rising input costs, including fertilizer, fuel, seed, and chemicals, combined with higher energy costs linked to the war with Iran, are significantly impacting producers? What advice did you give the President on the agricultural implications before strikes on Iran began? Rollins: Yes, but only a little of that comes here. The reason the price has increased is because so many other countries use it through the Strait, and that has caused the prices to go up. The President is acutely aware of the farm economy and is why he is fighting so hard for these nineteen new trade deals. We are going to have record-breaking exports this year and had some record-breaking exports last year. The inputs we inherited and high fertilizer prices from the conflict do not even reach the peak increase in fertilizer costs under the last administration. This is a long-running problem with fertilizer, which is why onshoring is so important. There have been more conversations about fertilizer and soybeans in this Oval Office than any other. These input costs are causing more struggle in the farm country, but in the last administration the cost of inputs increased by forty percent.
Representative Sorenson (D-IL): Do you believe farmers are better off under this administration than they were two years ago and that the administration has done a satisfactory job helping struggling farmers? Is the administration work at developing a long-term strategy for national security and supply chain risk as it relates to agricultural inputs and the general farm economy as you created additional stability in the Middle East? Rollins: Yes, because of the nineteen new markets that have been opened up and the record-breaking exports to come. There is no doubt they are struggling, but they know that we are fighting for them. Out of 1.8 million farmers, about 315 filed for bankruptcy, which is a lower ten-year average. The national security piece of this is very important. The instability in the Middle East will soon stabilize and be more stable than ever before.
Trade Policy
Ranking Member Craig: Without this administration’s trade policies, would we not need all that support for farmers because we would have export markets left in China? Rollins: That is absolutely not correct. When we lost our trade access around the world and saw an increase in the agricultural trade deficit, that was the Biden administration.
Representative Adams (D-NC): How many billions of dollars in agricultural exports to China the U.S. has lost as a direct result of retaliatory tariffs imposed by our trading partners? Have you conducted a comprehensive economic impact assessment of the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural producers? Rollins: Actually, we increased our exports by about $22 billion in the last year since taking over. We have conducted one and will share it with you.
Representative Salinas: With retaliatory tariffs reducing exports and producer losses across commodities, how is the administration addressing the impact of tariffs and ensuring producers see real market access rather than future purchase commitments? Rollins: Exports are up. We cut the trade deficit in half. What was $45 billion is now down to about $22 billion. Corn is up, ethanol is up, sorghum is up, and soybeans are up. China has agreed to purchase $17 billion in agricultural goods.
Domestic Production & Consumption
Representative Lucas (R-OK): How do the priorities of the bipartisan BACA of encouraging greater use of U.S.-grown fiber, supporting more textile manufacturing in the U.S., and shifting sourcing away from regions associated with forced labor align with the goals of the Great American Cotton Plan? What role can stronger demand for U.S. cotton play in advancing the Plan? Rollins: Cotton is one of those examples of how the world has taken over our market over the years. What we wear is often shipped in from other countries and it is cheaper, synthetic fiber. BACA and our Great American Cotton Plan are 100 percent aligned. What is exciting about this is how, in a bipartisan way, everyone has woken up to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. It is not just what we are eating and putting our farmers back in charge, but also what we wear, the sheets that we sleep in, and more. There is nothing better than great American cotton. We are getting back to plants, not plastic. I like to say America, not Brazil, because Brazil is the one that has taken most of our market. This is an incredible opportunity for cotton farmers.
Representative Crawford (R-AR): Given the fragile fertilizer supply chain and limited domestic production base, how important is it to support smaller and geographically distributed producers to strengthen supply chain resilience and improve outcomes in bringing new fertilizer production online? Rollins: The fact that we have offshored our fertilizer, seeds, supply chains, and processing over the years is a national security issue. We used to produce our fertilizer almost exclusively here. We now only produce about half of the fertilizer that we need, which means we are reliant on China, Russia, and other foreign countries, including some adversarial countries. This is a solvable problem in the long run. Rebuilding our domestic fertilizer industry is a national security issue and understanding it as such is allowing the Department of Energy to invest in fertilizer plants under the energy bucket of funding. It allows Commerce to invest in fertilizer plants and allows EPA to help move projects much more quickly and lift regulations so we can get these plants online quickly and avoid this issue in the future.
Representative Rouzer (R-NC): Can you discuss the Great American Cotton Plan, its relevance for U.S. textiles, and how trade policy fits into efforts to strengthen domestic cotton production and manufacturing? Rollins: In 2023, we lost our crown to Brazil as the world’s cotton export leader. In the last few years, Brazil has also taken corn, soybeans, processing, and more. These are major national security issues that we are taking very seriously. Cotton, more or less, is at the very top of that list. USDA will be investing significant resources to ensure we can rebuild that great U.S. industry. We used to have a couple thousand textile mills in the U.S., and now we are down to maybe 100. This is about onshoring and putting America First. We are working hard to get that market back while also making sure people understand that the MAHA movement is not just about food, although that is the driver. It is about what we wear as well. Plants, not plastics. America, not Brazil or China.
Representative Feenstra (R-IA): How would permanent year-round E15 support affordability and energy dominance? Why is getting it signed into law important for farmers and consumers? Rollins: Coming in, I knew the challenges internationally, but what I did not fully appreciate or understand was the opportunity to open up the domestic market. What I learned, and have since become such a huge supporter of, is the importance of E15 and what that will do to support our farmers and support that domestic market. This year, we are going to have ethanol exports up twenty percent and corn exports up 22 percent.
Representative Budzinski (D-IL): Given the role the Set Two final rule under the RFS is expected to play in supporting biofuel production and rural economies, and the importance of coupling the USDA feedstock rule with the 45Z Clean Fuel Credit, what is the status of the USDA feedstock rule and when do you expect it could be completed? Rollins: This summer. It is imminent.
Representative Mann (R-KS): What thoughts do you have on continuing to prioritize the procurement of U.S.-grown commodities? Rollins: The MAHA movement and agriculture do go hand in hand. Being able to advocate, work policy, and try to drive more markets and bigger markets, whether across the world or here in America, must continue. When you put the MAHA movement, including cotton, layered on top of where we are in agriculture, the opportunities abound ahead for us. We must keep taking advantage of that.
Representative Finstad (R-MN): With soybean prices still struggling relative to what producers saw decades ago, what is the administration doing to expand market access, strengthen demand, and bring down input costs so farmers can remain profitable? Rollins: Today we are at $10.40, so we have a little ways to go, but we are up a little bit versus where we were over the last number of years. The markets are going to open in significant ways. China has already agreed and is buying a significant amount of soybeans, more than they even said they promised to do. In addition to that, on just that one deal, there is another $17 billion in agricultural purchases from China for America. From a national security perspective, we have to diversify our markets, so we are not relying just on China to buy these products.
Representative Rose (R-TN): Given that expanding domestic demand through E15 and biofuels can help consume more commodities produced in the U.S., what other opportunities exist to become more self-sufficient, add value to commodities, and expand domestic use of what we produce here? Rollins: We have, for decades, allowed the offshoring of so much of what we need to feed, fuel, and clothe ourselves. We are at the point where this is an existential issue if we need to rely on China for our food and fertilizer. Whether it is E15, onshoring fertilizer, or getting cotton back into and onto American clothes and sheets, there is a massive list of problems that we are working to solve and we are making tremendous progress. None of this will happen overnight. But seeing the markets that have gone up and seeing the tens of billions of dollars in our agricultural products we are now moving out in just one year, that is only going to get better and become more important to our country.
USDA Programs & Reorganization
Representative Costa (D-CA): How does the reorganization plan, with only five hubs, bring USDA closer to farmers who rely on farm programs, conservation, research, and disaster assistance? Rollins: We are moving hubs to Kansas City and Indiana, which is closer to California than Washington, DC. We also have a hub in Salt Lake City and Colorado. I would be very welcome to evaluate specific locations and we have made adjustments along the way based on feedback.
Representative Crawford: Given concerns that Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments are made in arrears and often arrive twelve to fourteen months after losses occur, can USDA appropriately implement advanced partial payments so producers receive support in real time when conditions trigger payments? Rollins: If it moves forward, we will get it implemented. It is especially important with the additional thirty million acres that we are adding into those programs that we can do this quickly.
Representative Scott (R-GA): Is there anything Congress can do on the front end to help prevent issues like those with the SDRP funds and moving out as quickly and efficiently as possible? Rollins: The challenge with SDRP was that it required negotiations with every state in terms of the granting process. The back and forth, on both sides, was something we learned a lot from and is true of a lot of the different grants. Some moved out very, very quickly. Others took a little bit longer. At this point, we have almost completely closed that program. We have moved out these programs and this funding in about half the time previous USDAs have. The One Farmer, One File system allowed us, in four days, to move out 57,000 different farmer payments. As we move to bring in more technology, we are making huge progress on that front and hopefully will be able to hand off these programs to the next administration.
Representative Kelly (R-MS): Have Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices been adequately staffed and equipped to support producers, implement the changes made to the farm safety net last summer, and meet producer needs in a timely manner? Rollins: There is no doubt there is room for efficiency. It is congressional statute that there must be an office in every county and no offices have closed. Some are operating at fifty to sixty percent of the staff they had before we came into office. There is room for improvement, and we are working hard to improve it.
Representative Sorenson: Do you believe that the current funding levels for CSP and EQIP are sufficient to meet current demand? Rollins: Yes. The previous administration had a very different value set than we do, and there was a lot of investment in renewable energy. Now it is not our priority. We want to keep prime farmland farming.
Representative Baird (R-IN): What is your vision for partnerships between USDA and the cooperative extension system within the Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area related to crop science, precision agriculture, and research partnerships? Rollins: The move of REE out to Indianapolis, closer to our farmers and closer to our researchers, will be a massive value-add for all the challenges our researchers are working on and providing solutions for.
Representative Budzinski: What specific steps is USDA taking in its reorganization plan to rebuild staffing capacity, given that initiatives like One Farmer, One File will not improve service if there are not enough staff in FSA offices? Rollins: FSA offices continue to be a priority for USDA. When we released One Farmer, One File with one of the programs last year, 57,000 farmers received their funding within five days. We fully realize it will never take the place of FSA offices. Making sure offices are staffed appropriately and have the resources to respond to farmers quickly is one of my top priorities. We continue to work state by state to ensure that.
Representative Messmer (R-IN): Since signing the MOU, how has USDA worked with the Department of War, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and USDA’s Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA) to advance agricultural security and innovation? Rollins: Never has the Secretary of War, signed an MOU with the Secretary of Agriculture centered on the national security implications of agriculture. While we have been talking about a stronger military and reshoring manufacturing, agriculture has to be part of that conversation as well.
Other
Representative McGovern (D-MA): Do you believe glyphosate is safe, and that chemical companies that manufacture glyphosate should receive liability protection? Rollins: It has been proven safe when used correctly, both in the European Union, where it is used, and in America when used correctly. If we were to move away from glyphosate overnight, we would completely disrupt our food supply system in this country. We must be careful and intentional, and we cannot enact policy that allows China to be our sole source of crop protection.
Representative Brown (D-OH): Do you agree with the President that China should own U.S. farmland? Rollins: China is a massive threat to the U.S. The President has recognized this over and over again. We have to protect American farmland.
Representative Bost (R-IL): Do you agree that the federal government should not use taxpayer dollars to incentivize or subsidize taking prime farmland out of production for solar projects, particularly when projects can remove thousands of acres from production? Rollins: I agree.
Representative Bost: Can you outline how the National Farm Security Action Plan will secure and protect U.S. farmland? Rollins: The existential issue that we are facing is China, but it is also foreign ownership of farmland. In 1983, China owned around 2,000 acres, and last year, it was almost 300,000 acres. That is part of the 45 million acres of foreign-owned farmland. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) has never had agriculture at the center of these conversations in the way it does now. We need to get this codified. We are implementing the Action Plan and working with our state partners, some of which are working to claw back ownership. We have made progress in the last fourteen months, whether it is the purchase of farmland by foreign adversaries, especially around military bases, but also the purchase of some of our supply chains, such as that China owns basically our chemicals and seeds and that several other countries own our fertilizer.