SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, & FORESTRY
HEARING WITH AGRICULTURE SECRETARY ROLLINS
For questions on the note below, please contact the Delta Strategy Group team.
On June 10, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 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
- Secretary Rollins outlined nineteen new trade deals, the administration cutting the nearly $50 billion agricultural trade deficit in half in one year, and increasing exports and market access across multiple commodities, particularly corn, sorghum, and soybean oil.
- Chairman Boozman (R-AR) highlighted efforts to advance Farm Bill 2.0, stating forthcoming text will incorporate bipartisan measures and producer priorities. He also raised the need to advance the farm assistance package proposed with Senator Hoeven (R-ND).
- Chairman Boozman and Senator Hyde-Smith (R-MS) referenced the Great American Cotton Plan and the Buying American Cotton Act (BACA) within efforts to increase demand for U.S. cotton, promote cotton as an alternative to synthetic fibers, and strengthen domestic textile manufacturing and supply chains.
- Senators cited bipartisan support for year-round E15. Discussions focused on expanding both domestic and export markets, increasing corn demand, supporting farmers and rural economies, alongside increased affordability for consumers.
- Senator Marshall (R-KS) and Rollins discussed biofuels and value-added agricultural production, with Rollins stating that 45Z is a top priority, and that rulemaking is forthcoming. Discussions highlighted opportunities to expand domestic demand, increase ethanol exports, support biofuels production, and create additional markets for agricultural commodities.
- Democrats, led by Ranking Member Klobuchar (D-MN), raised concerns regarding tariffs, lost export markets, rising input costs, market uncertainty, pressures on farm profitability, and USDA staffing reductions and reorganization efforts.
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chairman John Boozman (R-AR)
The farm economy is struggling. Producers continue to face high input costs, rising labor expenses, elevated interest rates, and market uncertainty. One way we delivered on our commitment to producers is through the Working Families Tax Cuts, providing long overdue updates to agriculture policies that better reflect today’s realities for producers. These improvements respond directly to concerns raised for years and provide meaningful support and predictability. We appreciate USDA’s urgency in implementing these policies so farmers can realize benefits this fall. Our cotton producers have faced significant economic headwinds in recent years. Cotton remains a cornerstone crop for states across the Cotton Belt, supporting farm families, rural communities and manufacturers. This is why I strongly support the Buying American Cotton Act. I am pleased to see USDA’s recent announcement promoting the domestic cotton industry. At a time when our producers are competing in a challenging global marketplace, we should be doing everything we can to support U.S.-grown products. Committee members on both sides of the aisle support year-round E15. I do too, but we also need to protect energy security for local and regional communities and protect rural jobs. I support the proposal put forward by Senators Fischer and Capito, and hope the Senate moves quickly on that bill. Our producers must have access to the resources they need to succeed. Fertilizer remains one of the most significant input costs facing farmers, and they are seeing dramatic rises in costs and are concerned about future availability. The results of an American Farm Bureau Federation survey this year underscore the concerns across the country, with only twelve percent of farmers pre-ordering fertilizer, highlighting the uncertainty and financial pressures producers are experiencing. I appreciate USDA’s attention to this issue as well as the opportunity to discuss long-term strategies to lower the costs of fertilizer. We have a tremendous opportunity to update farm policies in Farm Bill 2.0. I look forward to releasing text very soon that incorporates many bipartisan measures and producer priorities, with updated policies to meet their needs. I remain committed to advancing the farm assistance package Senator Hoeven and I proposed in January. There are many additional challenges that have risen since then that demonstrate the urgency to provide our producers with more support.
Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
I appreciate the Chairman leading with the hope that we can move forward on a bipartisan Farm Bill and to ramp up a number of the bipartisan proposals to include, as well as the Chairman’s support for E15, which the House passed. I am supportive of the farm assistance package and have been one of the leads. It has been a turbulent time for producers and much of it could have been preventable. The IEEPA tariffs added nearly $1 billion in costs to critical inputs like fertilizer, seed, machinery, and chemicals from February through October of last year. These tariffs, rightfully struck down by the Supreme Court, were unnecessary, given that the legality and constitutionality of them were in question from the beginning. They added so much uncertainty and cost. Unfortunately, the President chose to bulldoze ahead with more. In addition to the chaos from the tariffs, the unilateral decision to start a conflict in the Middle East is causing real, direct harm to farmers and consumers. The average price for a gallon of diesel is up 51 percent in a single year, and the Consumer Price Index is 4.2 percent, up from 2.4 percent before the conflict began. I am concerned about the edge that this war has given Russia, China, and other countries that are not friends of the U.S. in the global battle for competitiveness because we are so reliant. The skyrocketing cost of fertilizer is threatening producers’ operations. Nearly half of global urea and thirty percent of global ammonia exports used in nitrogen fertilizer supply chains move through the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier this spring, the Farm Bureau highlighted the financial strain farmers are experiencing, estimating that seventy percent of farmers could not afford all the fertilizer needed, and 94 percent said their financial situation had worsened or flatlined in the past year. Even if the Strait of Hormuz were opened immediately, the long-term effect of going through our reserves, as we have done globally, is going to keep prices high. From fuel costs and fertilizer costs to tariffs, it has made it hard for our growers, especially small growers who do not have the reserves, to make long-term business decisions with any confidence. On top of the decision to go into this unilateral war and continue these tariffs, we have seen pandemonium in the response. USDA is pushing forward with a disruptive reorganization plan in the middle of all of this and it has already lost around twenty percent of its employees, meaning fewer FSA staff to process farm loan and disaster aid applications at a time when farmers are facing more problems. I encourage USDA to prioritize staffing local county offices and ARS labs to help farmers access services and tackle the issues they are facing right now.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins
Farm income saw the largest dollar-value loss in the U.S.’s history as it fell over $90 billion from 2023 to 2024, and commodity prices plummeted from thirty-year highs during the last administration. We saw zero new trade deals while inheriting a $50 billion agricultural trade deficit after leaving an $8 billion agricultural trade surplus just four years earlier. Last year, President Trump and congressional Republicans delivered the Working Families Tax Cut Act, a historic victory for U.S. agriculture, which increased reference prices for the first time in more than a decade. President Trump has already secured nineteen new trade deals in just over one year, helping slash that $50 billion agricultural trade deficit by almost fifty percent from one year ago. As we expand opportunity over the long term, we are also providing farmers with short-term support today through the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program and others. USDA has delivered tens of billions of dollars in targeted direct relief to help farmers manage natural disasters and temporary market disruptions. We are helping farmers manage input prices, the cost of which exploded under the last administration. Under Biden, fertilizer prices surged more than fifty percent, averaging 99 percent of their highest peak. Even after the Iranian conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, fertilizer today is still less than what it was at the peak of the Biden years. President Trump has activated the entire Cabinet on this issue. Truly affordable domestic inputs are a matter of national security and are why we launched the Farm Security Action Plan last year, integrating agriculture into our national security strategy for the first time.
DISCUSSION
Farm Economy & Input Costs
Chairman Boozman (R-AR): Can you confirm whether additional assistance is being considered and whether it could be included in a supplemental appropriations package? Rollins: I will confirm that this President’s commitment to farmers is real and very clear. We can work arm in arm and hand in hand, hopefully across both sides of the aisle, and get to another point where that is possible and feasible for our farmers.
Ranking Member Klobuchar (D-MN): Given that Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies increased by 46 percent from 2024, and farmer lender mediation notices are at their highest level since 2019, what actions are USDA considering to assist producers facing bankruptcy? Why does the USDA budget propose eliminating the Certified Mediation Program? Rollins: The bankruptcies are about 0.03 percent of the total U.S. farms. Every farm is absolutely something we should be fighting to save. Chapter 12 does not mean they are going out of business. It just means they are reorganizing. But certainly, with the loss of markets and cost of inputs, there is no doubt that the farm economy is facing serious headwinds, and that is what we are all working together to solve. On the Mediation Program, I want to make sure I understand what it was that we pulled back, what the utilization was, and then work together to think about how to solve that.
Senator Marshall (R-KS): With farmers struggling, largely due to input costs, what do you see as the greatest needs going forward, including support for fertilizer projects? What needs to be done to replenish the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)? Rollins: These conversations are ongoing. The CCC $30 billion limit is not tied to inflation and if it had been when first enacted, we would be at $90 billion for the CCC loan authority. We must keep working together on that and seeing what we can get done.
Senator Welch (D-VT): Given that USDA’s data shows it is costing farmers more to produce major commodity crops than they are being paid, and with concerns about rising input costs and lost markets, what is USDA doing to address this? Rollins: I understand it has been an imperfect process, but we have made a lot of strides for our farmers.
Senator Warnock (D-GA): With the Strait of Hormuz closed and war in Iran impacting fertilizer and fuel markets during planting season, is the administration planning to ask Congress for more money to aid farmers so they can afford these costs? Rollins: Fertilizer and diesel fuel have been the two areas where we have seen significant increases in costs since the Strait was closed. Before the conflict, diesel fuel came down fifty percent since the last administration.
Trade Policy
Senator Marshall (R-KS): Given the importance of value-add agriculture, where soybeans are turned into diesel, what opportunities do you see for it in these nineteen trade deals? Rollins: The opportunities are unlimited. Many countries, whether we agree with them or not, have put themselves into a certain category of reaching certain numbers on carbon through ethanol and it is U.S. that benefit the most. My job at USDA, along with Lutnick, Greer, and Bessent, is to keep this at the top of the list in the trade agenda. We are already going to break records this year on corn and ethanol exports, and this is just the beginning of the opportunity.
Senator Slotkin (D-MN): With the nineteen new trade deals, why do we need the tariffs? Is there not $12 billion in assistance currently going to farmers because they do not have enough money and have lost access to foreign markets? Rollins: The $30 billion you are talking about was approved before we came in. We came in and implemented the tariffs in 2025. We have cut the agricultural deficit in half and are expanding the foreign markets. The $12 billion, actually $11 billion, came in December of last year to address the very high input costs and that trade deficit. Soybeans are back and even stronger today, as is sorghum, all in the last month.
Senator Hoeven (R-ND): Given the importance of expanding access to foreign markets while ensuring trading partners play fair, do you believe a Section 301 investigation on sugar is warranted? What actions can be taken to address concerns about imports and the Tier 2 tariff? Rollins: I agree with you and Ambassador Greer has been an incredible, capable partner. We do not agree on everything, but we agree on most things. In 2023, for the first time in U.S. history, we became a net importer of food instead of a net exporter. The fact that Brazil has taken our markets in corn, soybean, and other products is disturbing. That is on top of China and other countries. We must solve this for national security reasons.
Senator Warnock (D-GA): Was the administration lowering its tariffs on farm equipment by ten percent an acknowledgment that the tariffs increased the cost of farming? Rollins: The President, as our chief negotiator, is constantly adjusting. The very tariffs you are speaking of have instituted, or led to, the nineteen new trade deals implemented. We are going to have higher corn and ethanol exports than at any point. For farmers, nothing is more important than market access. We inherited a fifty percent increase in input costs and brought it down. On the farm equipment tariffs, the President is focused on what we can do to get our farmers to profitability as a national security issue. If removing certain barriers can bring down the cost, then that is a big win for everyone. That announcement was to make sure farmers got the benefit, not large equipment companies.
Senator Warnock (D-GA): Following the Supreme Court’s decision on the President’s tariffs, are you advocating for farmers to also be reimbursed for the tariff costs that were passed on to them? Rollins: Other than the $50 billion trade deficit, which we have now cut in half, we have opened up more than $20 billion in additional sales under this trade renegotiation. I will be happy to look into that and will talk to Secretary Lutnick.
Domestic Production & Consumption
Chairman Boozman (R-AR): Given the administration’s focus on opening export markets through new trade agreements and the importance of building domestic demand through efforts such as BACA and year-round E15, what other actions is the administration taking to increase domestic demand? Rollins: The fact remains that U.S. producers send their goods out, with an average fifteen percent tariff, into other countries. When goods from those countries come here, it is an average of five percent. Producers have been compromised under these past trade and tariff regimes. In just over a year, nineteen new trade deals are unprecedented and already paying dividends. We have cut the agricultural trade deficit in half, and we expect it to come down another thirty percent this year. We expect a record-breaking 35 percent increase in volume in corn exports. Sorghum is going to be up almost 100 percent, ethanol up at least eleven percent, wheat exports up eight percent, and soybean oil up 129 percent. Farmers do not want a check from the government but to be able to sell their goods on an open, fair market. On domestic markets, whether it is E15 or 45Z, the moves we have made have been unprecedented. The moment that captured domestic markets in my mind, especially with cotton, is the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement and how we have basically offshored all our clothing production. Ninety-seven percent of our clothes today are made with synthetic fiber from a foreign adversary. That is bad enough. But then when you look at the health impact of the sheets we sleep in and the clothes we put on our bodies, that is real. A cotton renaissance is coming.
Ranking Member Klobuchar (D-MN): Given concerns about rising diesel, gas, and fertilizer costs and efforts to make the Homegrown Fertilizer Act permanent, do you intend to use additional CCC funds to support the development of domestic fertilizer production? Rollins: Before the Iranian conflict and before the Strait of Hormuz was closed, fertilizer was down about fifty percent on average over the last fourteen months and we were headed in the right direction. With this conflict, it has certainly pushed prices up. Even though fertilizer prices are significantly higher since the Iranian conflict, they are still lower than the peak during the Biden years. We have offshored our fertilizer production to almost fifty percent of total fertilizer over the last couple of decades. This did not happen under any one administration. That offshoring has become a national security issue and a cost issue for farmers. I called the Secretary of Energy and made the case that fertilizer is an important energy investment. One of his largest projects is now a fertilizer plant, and we are working to reshore and onshore fertilizer production.
Ranking Member Klobuchar (D-MN): Would you consider using some of the CCC’s $14.3 billion in emergency funding for domestic fertilizer? Rollins: It is mutually beneficial. The problem with the CCC has been that the loan rate has not increased for eighty years. What is left in the CCC right now, we are going to need to meet the obligations of the Working Families Tax Cut Act and the increases included in that legislation. We will be looking at using it for domestic fertilizer too.
Senator Marshall (R-KS): Given the importance of E15 to increasing corn consumption and the potential opportunity associated with 45Z, can you provide an update on the status of the 45Z rules and what remains to get them across the finish line? Rollins: There are multiple hands in the proverbial rulemaking pot within the administration, but it is a top priority for me, and the Cabinet understands that. It is imminent and forthcoming. I do not want to give you an exact date, but it is coming, hopefully very quickly.
Senator Hyde-Smith (R-MS): Will you discuss how BACA aligns with the USDA’s priorities to expand this domestic market as well as strengthen national security? Rollins: Your leadership on this has been incredible. I did not quite understand how bad it had gotten in the industry with the mills. With MAHA, America First, protecting U.S. markets, and opening up markets around the world, cotton should be at the very top of that list. There have certainly been a lot of struggles. My vision, with your partnership, is that all of these U.S. companies should be at the table and decide to buy only U.S. cotton. Let us get back to the days where most of our clothing, sheets, etc. are sourced with U.S. cotton then talk about it on the world stage and make it a priority. There are many opportunities there.
Senator Slotkin (D-MN): Given the bipartisan support for E15 and the opportunities it creates for corn farmers and ethanol, what can be done to break the current logjam and get a year-round E15 policy across the finish line? Rollins: I am 100 percent on board.
Senator Hoeven (R-ND): With the House having passed year-round E15 and legislation moving in the Senate, do you have any thoughts you would like to add? Rollins: We are very supportive. The President has been unequivocal in his support. When he was in Iowa a couple of months ago, which helped hustle this along a little bit, he was very supportive.
Senator Hoeven (R-ND): Given your work on fertilizer availability, fertilizer prices, and domestic fertilizer production, is there anything else on fertilizer you would like to highlight? Rollins: We are going to do all the short-term options, and fertilizer prices are coming back down even with the Strait still closed. For the long term, I am bullish on this. It is a model not just for fixing fertilizer, but for what we can do for other inputs for farmers over the long term.
Senator Grassley (R-IA): Does the Trump administration support legislation for year-round sale of E15 nationwide? Will year-round E15 boost America’s rural economy and bring $14 billion back into the farm economy? Will E15 give consumers a cheaper option at the gas pump, somewhere between 20 and 40 cents a gallon? Rollins: Yes. The President, in a speech he did in the first term and then reiterated in the second term, offered his full and unequivocal support. It will boost the farm economy, and it will provide a cheaper option for consumers. In a time where we are working hard on affordability, that becomes even more important.
Senator Grassley (R-IA): Does year-round E15 bolster our national security? Rollins: Yes, there is no national security without farm security. This administration, for the first time in the history of our country, has put agriculture as part of the national security plan. Being able to protect farmers and what E15 means to them and opening up a domestic market while we are opening up the international market is a priority.
Senator Grassley (R-IA): Given EPA Administrator Zeldin’s testimony that during the eight years of presidential waivers allowing E15, no small refineries have shut down, are you aware of any? Rollins: I have not heard of any small refineries shutting down.
USDA Programs & Reorganization
Senator Welch (D-VT): Given the staffing cuts and staff attrition without replacement, what are the prospects for restaffing field offices? Rollins: If we could get a list of where it compromised, whether it is NRCS, FSA, or RD, we will prioritize that.
Senator Tuberville (R-AL): How are you working with the Department of Defense on the National Farm Security Action Plan? Rollins: It has been extremely positive, and the Cabinet has accepted agriculture with open arms and put agriculture at the top of the list. I am now part of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) and I cannot believe agriculture was never part of it before. CFIUS is reviewing everything involving foreign entities and adversaries.
Senator Schiff (D-CA): Are there any constraints in using CCC funding that need to be addressed in the Farm Bill or otherwise? Rollins: There is a lot of work that Congress can do, as it is a congressionally authorized fund, to adjust and tie to inflation. We are also talking to Senator Hoeven and Committee members about the importance of that. For the reference price increase, crop insurance protection, and others, the additional money is going to come from the CCC fund. We are really stretched right now on the CCC.
Senator Schiff (D-CA): Are you committed to ensuring Disaster Relief Phase Two applications are processed by the August 12 deadline? Will farmers be left out if staffing at FSA county offices is not adequate to process applications? Rollins: We will ensure that everyone has the time that they need, and we worked hard to adjust FSA offices to ensure that is possible. The funding program rolled out prior to One Farmer, One File moved 10,000 to 12,000 payments over the course of five months. Under One Farmer, One File, in four days, 57,000 farmers applied and the money hit their bank accounts. We are making a lot of technological adjustments to move that much more quickly but also understand the importance of the in-person touch for many farmers.
Senator Moran (R-KS): With the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility transitioning from Department of Homeland Security management to USDA, how are you working to ensure a smooth transition? Rollins: After this, I have a meeting where I will raise it.
Senator Hoeven (R-ND): Given the importance of the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program in helping producers and the upcoming updates to ARC, PLC, and crop insurance, do you have any additional thoughts on the role of Farmer Bridge Assistance in helping producers through this period? Rollins: We have nineteen new trade deals and surging exports. We are bringing input costs down once this Iranian conflict is over. Fuel was down fifty percent, fertilizer was down fifty percent, labor was down 46 percent in the first year of this administration. The Farmer Bridge Assistance was just that, a bridge. We are making the right moves to get there.
Senator Grassley (R-IA): With the administration adding phosphate and potash to the critical minerals list, what is the status of USDA’s effort to hire an input economist? Rollins: We have already started interviewing to bring in a superstar and build an entire team. We have a whole focus in my office on inputs, and this is just one more step in the right direction.
Other
Senator Slotkin (D-MN): Given concerns about the Chinese Communist Party and other adversaries purchasing U.S. farmland and agribusinesses, and the ongoing debate over whether foreign entities should be allowed to purchase farmland, what is your official position on this issue? Rollins: The President is very focused on protecting farmers as part of our national security plan. The Chinese purchase of our chemicals, seed, farmland, and all of the above is very concerning to us.