By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

In her first appearance testifying in front of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture since her confirmation, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins addressed the threat of the New World screwworm, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), agricultural trade, changes to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) staff, the Make America Healthy Again report and solar panels.

In her testimony, Rollins said USDA remains committed to putting farmers first.

“The hardworking Americans who feed, fuel and clothe our nation and the world are at the center of everything we do at USDA,” Rollins said.

She also highlighted seven things USDA has worked on over the previous 118 days. They include: tackling the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak and lowering egg prices, taking action to respond to foreign disease outbreaks like New World screwworm, kicking off a comprehensive effort to identify and rectify politically-motivated lawfare against family farms, streamlining unnecessary regulations and cutting red tape, moving out Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) payments, increasing productivity and production in the U.S. timber industry and opening up markets for U.S. farm products across the globe.

Trade
Rollins said one of the most important things the administration can do to help U.S. farmers and ranchers is to expand new markets.

“USDA has now made it a top priority to advocate on behalf of American agriculture on the world stage,” Rollins said.

Earlier this year, USDA announced Rollins would make six international visits during her first six months in office. The secretary planned to visit Vietnam, Japan, India, Peru, Brazil and the United Kingdom.

“I’ve already traveled to the UK and to Italy. I am soon to leave for Vietnam, Japan and India, and after that, I’m going to South America,” Rollins said. “We are working as hard as we possibly can pushing these aggressive trade deals to put our American farmers and producers first in this administration.”

USDA officials plan trips to Hong Kong, the Dominican Republican, Taiwan, Côte d’Ivoire and Mexico.

“The encouragement that I have received just in these first few international trips has been remarkable,” Rollins said. “I know the uncertain times our producers are feeling. There’s no one who is operating more on the margins than our farmers and ranchers. The president certainly understands it, but I do believe with every fiber of my being that this era of unlimited, or unprecedented, prosperity for the ag community is around the corner because of these trade re-negotiations.”

Some lawmakers questioned the president’s use of tariffs and expressed concerns with how they would, and are, impacting farmers, ranchers and families.

“I believe it would’ve been a better strategy to go get these markets before you do it across the board in a trade war that decimates 50% of the market,” U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), committee ranking member, said.

USDA staff reductions
Rollins was also questioned about changes in USDA staff numbers at the June 11 hearing.

“The USDA did in fact fire nearly 6,000 probationary employees as part of a government-wide reduction in force,” U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) said. “This was in addition to the deferred resignations that were received. The courts did, in fact, force you to reinstate these employees.”

Rollins said no one was fired.

She noted USDA’s workforce grew by more than 20,000 people during the Biden administration.

“There were 15,000 USDA employees who took the deferred resignation, but no one was fired,” Rollins said. “In a normal year, we have 8-10,000 attrition rates. I think there’s been a big narrative about how all these important people have been fired, but that’s not the case. What we have done is a careful review.”

The secretary encouraged lawmakers on the panel to contact her if they were told of a local USDA office with specific examples of instances where the reduction in force was impacting farmers and ranchers.

H-2A and ag labor
Rollins was asked to address farm labor shortages and the H-2A program.

U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) asked the secretary to address Trump’s comments at a recent cabinet meeting that he would work with agriculture to ensure there’s a process in place for farm workers.

“He alluded to a process by which there would be some sort of flexibility provided to farmers and a new process to allow undocumented workers in their jobs to come back in legally; however, recent enforcement actions have begun to impact and even target agricultural operations,” Thompson said. “There’s still a lack of clarity for producers.”

The president remains committed to upholding the law, Rollins said, but also understands the significant challenges agriculture faces.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure that these farmers and ranchers have the labor they need,” Rollins said. “The president is hyper-focused on that, understanding the challenges currently at-hand. Please know that we are in constant communication about how to solve that quickly.”

The secretary recently visited a few citrus growers in the Rio Grande Valley and discussed labor, H-2A and the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR).

“We could look across the border where the average hourly rate was $2 in Mexico to produce the same or to basically move the same produce through in Texas at $23 an hour. This is unsustainable,” Rollins said. “I’ve talked to Lori Chavez-DeRemer, our Secretary of Labor, about it. I’ve spoken to the president about it. We realize what a huge problem this is.”

The budget and SNAP cuts
Proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that were passed by the U.S. House in the budget reconciliation package, or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, were brought up by several democrats on the committee.

“I am genuinely concerned that under this administration, agricultural policymaking has become much more partisan and polarized. This reckless push to cut nearly $300 billion in funding to a title of the farm bill—instead of prioritizing getting a full 12-title, five-year farm bill across the finish line—is of particular concern and has put a bipartisan farm bill in jeopardy,” Craig said.

The House version of the bill passed in a 215 to 214 vote in late May.

The bill includes increases to farm bill reference prices, increases investments in farm programs and making key tax provisions permanent.

The Senate is now considering its version of the bill.

New World screwworm
In the hearing, Rollins was questioned by several lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX) about New World screwworms and USDA’s efforts to prevent their reintroduction in Texas and the United States.

Rollins teased a big announcement regarding those efforts.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
She also discussed USDA’s efforts to control the spread of HPAI in poultry flocks and dairy cattle in the U.S. at the hearing, saying so far, USDA has helped lower egg prices for consumers.

“(USDA) is tackling the avian bird flu outbreak and lowered the price of wholesale eggs by more than 65% with retail prices following at 25% and gaining every week,” Rollins said.

Since USDA rolled out its HPAI plan, the department has performed nearly 850 biosecurity assessments of poultry farms.

“We go onto the farms and help the farmers ensure that the barns are locked down. That is clearly the number one and best and most effective way to stop HPAI is biosecurity,” Rollins said. “We’ve spent about $70 million to repopulate the barns to get the chickens back into laying form very, very quickly. We have been importing some eggs while we repopulate, which has allowed the prices to come down.”

USDA also invested $100 million on a long-term solution on HPAI.

“I’m not sure that there’s been anything more heartbreaking to me in the 118 days since I was confirmed than visiting with some of these egg farmers who have lost their livelihoods,” Rollins said. “I know there’s this narrative that, ‘Oh, they just want the money and the depop.’ That’s not it. These farmers who basically have generational egg laying farms have lost everything. I remain committed to them.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) brought up HPAI in the dairy industry during the hearing, asking the secretary if USDA would follow the science and produce a vaccine for HPAI.

“We remain wholly committed to looking down every single path, under every single hood, doing everything we can on this high path to try to contain it,” Rollins said.

MAHA
The secretary was also questioned about USDA’s role in the recent release of the Make America Healthy Again report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Farmers across Tennessee and the nation want America to be healthy and are a critical part of the solution but are also very concerned about the Make America Healthy Again Commissions’ reports and potential implications on the agriculture industry, specifically relating to pesticides and herbicides,” U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) said. “Unfortunately, the report sows seeds of doubt about our food system and the hardworking farmers who feed the planet. On top of that, outside USDA’s participation on the commission, our boots on the ground farmers weren’t included in the development of the report.”

Farmers and the agricultural community will be included in the MAHA Commission’s next steps on the report, Rollins said.

“My commitment is just that, and I have worked and have been unequivocal on the record how important these crop protection programs are—pesticides, specifically glyphosate and others more specifically—and the president has, as well. We will continue that,” Rollins said. “There’s no doubt that we could do better on the next report. And my commitment is to do everything I can to ensure that our ag community is better represented.”

Following the release of the report, the MAHA Commission is now tasked with working on and developing the strategy to make children healthy again. It’s due in August, per the MAHA Commission.

Solar
After shining a light on the MAHA report, the committee began to talk about another use for sunshine—solar power.

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) expressed her concerns that solar panels are covering productive agricultural land and the impacts that could have now and in the future.

“As you are well aware, we are seeing taxpayer-subsidized Chinese solar covering some of the best farm ground in the world—class A and class B farm ground,” Miller said. “I was proud to reintroduce the no solar panels on Fertile Farmland Act of 2025, which bans taxpayer funding for solar panels, especially those made in China from being installed on America’s fertile farm ground. Hostile foreign power should never be allowed to control critical American assets like our food production.”

Rollins committed to U.S. Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH), who also asked about solar panels, that USDA funding will not go toward putting solar panels on prime farmland in the future.

“I will also say that I’ve spoken to the president about this. I will also say that we are moving regulations through USDA relative to this as much as we can within the executive branch,” Rollins said. “Obviously you all have the lead on that and I’ll support you in whatever way I can.”

She said it’s important for the preservation of family farms and ensuring the U.S.’ food supply is secure.

“Not only is it important for our row crops where that land is being taken off, but it’s important for the fabric of America that we’re not selling away this farmland for solar panels funded by foreign entities,” Rollins said.

Foreign-owned farmland
Another issue that has been brought up in the Texas Legislature, like solar, that was brought up during the hearing is foreign entities purchasing U.S. farmland.

“We have 400,000 acres of farmland in the last decade that has been purchased by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). This happened because I don’t think we knew it was happening,” Rollins said. “Now that we realize what a significant problem it is, we are working across the federal government. I was again in a meeting just yesterday about this issue, and we’ll continue to build out the plan to ensure that we are addressing this extreme threat to not only our farmland and our American way of life, but to our national security.”

The full hearing can be viewed here.