USDA Ag Secretary Rollins: ‘It’s a new day at USDA’

March 2, 2025 | Bethany Baratta

In her address to farmers and industry representatives today at Commodity Classic in Denver, Colo., U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the payments are ‘on track'

Rollins announced that USDA would be releasing funds important to farmers, including Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) funds. 

She acknowledged the economic conditions farmers are facing.

“The state of ag economy, especially for row crop producers, is perhaps the worst it’s been in 100 years,” Rollins said. “The decline in crop cash receipts over 2 years is the largest in recorded history.”

“Clearly there are a lot of factors that go into this, but we’ve got a $49 billion trade deficit, that is devastating to our American farmers and ranchers,” said Rollins, a Texas native. “When the cost of inputs went up 30% in the last 4 or 5 years, how do any of our farmers make any money?”

She said she was working with the administration to ‘attack it from all sides,’ including expanding trade opportunities around the world.

“We are here to chart a new course for American agriculture. We will not accept failed policies of the past as excuses for what we can, and will achieve for next 4 years,” she said. “We won’t stop repairing systems that have long been broken. We will usher in new era of opportunity.”

“Farmers are among the greatest innovators in our nation,” Rollins said. “It's the federal government that needs to learn from all of you.”

Market relief payments

Each passing day is one day closer to Congress’ March 21 deadline to release nearly $10 billion in economic relief payments to farmers. Congress included the $9.8 billion in market relief payments to farmers as part of the American Relief Act in late December 2024. It gave USDA 90 days to issue the payments to farmers.

In her address to farmers and industry representatives today, USDA Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the payments are ‘on track’.

But the March 21 deadline looms. In the background, the lack of a federal funding bill could result in a government shutdown on March 15, says Pro Farmer policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer.

Based on history, Wiesemeyer estimates the initial payment will likely be around 85% of the projected total, with a supplemental payment coming in the summer, according to Farm Journal. Most expect the per acre payment rates to be in line with what staff on the House Ag Committee released last year, including $30.61 per acre for soybeans and $43.80 per acre for corn. Other commodities are also included.

More than 10,500 attendees were registered to attend Commodity Classic. Established in 1996, Commodity Classic is presented annually by the American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Sorghum Producers, and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

Tariffs loom

President Donald Trump previously indicated he would be implementing a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% additional tariff on imports from China. Energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% tariff, according to previous White House reports.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said earlier today that tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect this Tuesday, March 4, but indicated that it might not be the 25% as previously indicated.

“That is a fluid situation," Lutnick told the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are, we're going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate,” Lutnick said.

Tariffs on products from the European Union are also expected.

Two weeks ago today, Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) District 5 Director Dave Struthers was on his way to Mexico to meet with potential soybean buyers—dairy, pork, egg and poultry producers—and feed processors.

Today, Struthers was in Denver, hearing directly from Ag Secretary Rollins.

“The United States is blessed with productive farmers and productive land, and we produce more products that can consume in this country,” Struthers said.  “We need to find buyers for those products, especially our neighbors who are joined by a land mass: Canada and Mexico. Because of that, they are big trading partners with us and an asset that we need to continue to maintain trading relationships with.”

Tariffs have an impact on farmers like Struthers, who raises soybeans, corn, cattle and pigs near Collins.

“The big concern with tariffs is how the markets react,” Struthers said. “This past week we saw major products I produce—corn and soybeans—go down over 30 cents a bushel on the nearby months on the Board of Trade. We saw hogs go down almost $4 on nearby months, too, because of tariffs that are going to happen and those countries will not be buying those corn, soybeans and pork that I personally raise and depend upon for a portion of my livelihood.”

As a USDA deadline looms over Congress, Struthers maintains that he prefers open trade over a government payment. He participated in then-Senator Tom Harkin’s listening session on the Freedom to Farm Act of 1996, advocating to let the markets dictate supply and demand.

“We want to make our living off the markets, not off of government subsidy of any kind; I believe that’s truly a free market,” Struthers said.

Avian influenza response

A top priority for Rollins, who was confirmed as Ag Secretary on Feb. 13, is highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 HPAI) response. USDA recently introduced a $1 billion, five-pronged plan to support poultry farmers amid H5N1 HPAI. H5N1 HPAI is a viral disease that affects both wild and domestic bird populations. H5N1 HPAI can travel in wild birds without those birds appearing sick, but is often fatal to domestic bird populations, including chickens and turkeys. H5N1 HPAI can also impact dairy cattle, and 13 cases were detected in Iowa dairy herds in June of 2024. With supportive care, dairy herds recover with limited, or no mortality associated with the disease. 

Of greatest investment in the $1 billion plan is $500 million for increased biosecurity measures and audits. Through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), USDA will spend $400 million to increase relief aid to farmers. Up to $100 million will be spent on a “targeted and thoughtful strategy for potential new generation vaccines, therapeutics, and other innovative solutions to minimize depopulation of egg laying chickens,” the USDA says.

Working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USDA says it will work with scientists and farmers to develop strategies to limit the depopulation of infected flocks. It said the strategy could include increasing the number of eggs imported to the U.S. and reducing exports to supplement the U.S. egg supply.

Most recently in Iowa, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) and USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) detected a case of H5N1 HPAI in a commercial turkey flock in Sac County, Iowa. This is Iowa’s fourth detection of H5N1 HPAI within domestic birds in 2025. 

Rollins said the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) elimination of various positions has impacted at least three H5N1 HPAI experts. Those positions have been reinstated, Rollins said. She expects other positions to be reinstated as the department evaluates its budget and needs.

Death tax

On the sidelines of the Commodity Classic tradeshow, Rollins committed to ‘repeal the death tax once and for all.’

“We want you to continue the proud generation of family farms ... we got to get the government out of the way in order to do that.”

Support for diversified energy portfolio

If given a minute for a conversation with Secretary Rollins, Struthers said he would affirm his support for an energy policy which supports various feedstocks, including soybeans.

“I would like to see the Trump administration adopt an ‘all of the above’ energy policy. We saw the previous administration really champion electricity, but we have to generate electricity somewhere and we can’t abandon the internal combustion engine,” Struthers said. “I think having a cleaner environment by utilizing more soy diesel and ethanol and other grain-producing fuels is going to generate a lot more money in the economy that just drilling for oil or having battery powered vehicle.”

---

Back