Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Sunday laid out some broad details of the $10 billion in market relief for row crop producers that’s due out by March 21, asserting that the U.S. farm economy is “perhaps the worst it's been in 100 years.”
Speaking in Denver at the opening day of Commodity Classic, the annual meeting of grain and oilseed growers and equipment manufacturers, Rollins also assured farmers that $21 billion in disaster relief that USDA also is due to distribute would be based strictly on need, “regardless of your skin color or geographic location.”
In December, Congress authorized $21 billion in disaster aid as well as the $10 billion in economic assistance. The Biden administration had pro-rated the last round of disaster assistance in order to benefit small-scale and underserved producers.
Rollins also said the department was releasing payments from three major conservation programs.
Funding through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Security Program and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program had been paused since President Donald Trump took office.
“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,” she said.
The acting chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Louis Aspey, told Agri-Pulse that the release of funds only applied to contracts that had already been signed. Funding for climate-smart practices funded through the Inflation Reduction Act remains frozen for any new contracts while the administration assesses what it is going to do with that money.
Rollins, who received standing ovations at the beginning and end of her speech on a stage beside the conference's massive trade show, repeatedly stressed that the department was eliminating all vestiges of diversity, equity and inclusion practices, including as they guided farmer relief.
“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.
Rollins said the department was on “on track” to “move immediately some $10 billion in economic assistance to row crop producers. The aid was authorized by Congress in December along with $21 billion in disaster aid. She said the Farm Service Agency would base the payments on 2024 acreage reporting data. The program will be known as the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, or ECAP, she said.
She gave no timeline for distributing the $21 billion in disaster aid. But she said, “Gone are the days of progressive factoring. No longer will you be required to turn in your tax returns. We will have much more to say on this specifically in the weeks ahead, but it's a new day at USDA.”
Rollins touched on trade policy and President Donald Trump’s tariffs only briefly: “He is going to ensure that our farmers are being treated fairly by our trading partners.”
Rollins made no mention in her speech of Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China slated to begin Tuesday.
If the president presses ahead with the plans, analysts have warned the price of fertilizer and agricultural machinery could climb further. During the first Trump administration, officials provided support for producers that suffered export revenue losses from retaliatory tariffs through the Market Facilitation Program.
Rollins has previously suggested that the administration would stand up a similar program should farmers sustain new export losses as a result of tariffs.
Responding to a question from Agri-Pulse during a press conference ahead of her speech, Rollins did not rule out also providing support for U.S. producers facing higher input costs as a result of new tariffs.
“Everything is on the table,” she said.
The agriculture secretary said she understood the U.S.’ reliance on Canadian potash and noted that she has raised the issue in meetings with key trade officials, including newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.
“Our conversations are ongoing and will continue to be and I fully recognize that,” Rollins told reporters.
During the speech, Rollins also sought to assure farmers that they would not be hurt by the Make America Healthy Again policies that Robert Kennedy Jr. might pursue as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I am working with Secretary Bobby Kennedy as we speak on efforts to make America healthy again, but I am certain that we will do so in a way that does not compromise you and your farms and your farming practices,” she said.
She also said she would be working with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on a “massive deregulation project.” She didn’t elaborate on what regulations the administration would try to undo.
Updated Monday with details on conservation program funding.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
