Proposed FY 2027 Budget for the Department of Agriculture

the ag appropriations uh subcommittee to order and uh wanna begin by thanking uh secretary brook Rollins for being here today we appreciate it very much um of course today we're gonna talk about um the appropriation for next year on behalf of our incredible uh farmers and ranchers our uh thanks to our network of family farms and ranches across this country uh we have i think on the order of sixteen million people are involved either directly or indirectly in agriculture and unlike many industries it's not just a few big businesses it is a family-based network of farms and ranches something that i believe the american people very much wanna keep in place um not only because they our farmers and ranchers produce the highest quality, lowest cost food supply uh in in the world that Americans benefit from every single day, every American benefits from every single day uh but i truly uh believe that in this country we are dedicated to that network of family farms and restaurants uh uh family farms and ranches because it really is about the strength and vitality of rural America. I mean, think about it. That is the bedrock of uh rural economies, small communities, um across our whole country. And it, and it's diverse. Think of the agriculture in California versus in uh Louisiana, my state of North Dakota, New Hampshire. Um, it's, it's incredibly diverse, but uh for all those reasons, and that ultimately because food security is national security. And so, when we talk about uh farm policy, and of course all the things you do at USDA, and we talk about how we're gonna fund that, it's just incredibly important and it touches every single American every single day. And sometimes we take it for granted. You know, I I think it's kind of like when you come in the room, you flip the switch, you expect the lights to go on. We expect that same thing with our f- food supply. And it's not just food, it's food, fuel and fiber, again brought to us by this this amazing uh industry this ag industry and the way we have it here uh family-based and uh we wanna keep it that way and we wanna work very hard to bring the next generation in right i mean it really is not only about sustaining the network we have but bringing that next generation into farming and and ranching as well i wanna thank you secretary up front for recognizing that for working very hard on it for traveling the country and getting out there and talking to folks across the country that are involved in agriculture And of course, uh, recognizing that we needed the farm bridge assistance, the twelve billion that was provided, working uh, with us, working with the administration, working with President Trump to make sure that that twelve billion was there, uh, to get our uh, farmers and ranchers through a really tough time where they have high input costs and and low commodity prices. And in in the uh, Working Families Tax Cut Act we did provide enhancements to ARC-PLC and to crop insurance, uh, which our producers will see this year, but the marketing year, Ag Marketing year doesn't end until October so that they don't see that enhanced ARC PLC until that October time frame. So that farm bridge assistance is incredibly important, and we've got more to do there. And I know you've said that, uh, Madam Secretary, and we look forward to continuing to do more on that farm uh, bridge assistance. Um, one other thing I wanna bring up before we dive, before I turn to Ranking Member Shahin and we dive into the numbers and the budget is I wanna thank you for coming to North Dakota last year and then for uh supporting and working with us on precision ag and really for your incredible initiative on ag uh tech technology ag technology ag tech um and developing the proving grounds including us at grand farms and s u and with our tremendous ars office out there but recognizing and and uh under secretary scott Hutchins said it very well uh when he was out in north korea not too long ago and that is how do we help our farmers and ranchers be more profitable and so when we talk about ag tech and these test sites or proving grounds and that kind of thing it is about making our farmers and ranchers more profitable so they're around for the long haul so we keep this network of family farms and ranchers and so we get that next generation in to carry on this great legacy so again uh thank you for being here And with that, I will turn to, uh, uh, Ranking Member, Senator Shaheen.

Thank you, Chair Hoeven, and thank you, Secretary Rollins, for being here today. And we're still hoping we're gonna get you to New Hampshire. Um, as you know, farms in New Hampshire are very different than farms in North Dakota. And so we would love to have a chance to show you what we are very proud of in New Hampshire, the agriculture that we practice there. I believe that all of us in this room can agree that this is a challenging time for farmers and for ranchers as Senator Hoeven laid out our producers are facing rising input costs stubborn commodity prices export market uncertainty and a rapidly changing climate including new pests and diseases that we're seeing in New Hampshire and across the country. Families in rural America are not immune or shielded from the affordability crisis that so many facing from housing to energy costs to the difficulty in starting and operating a small business. But rather than put the focus on these challenges in working to provide certainty where producers and communities are otherwise subject to so many forces outside their control, I remain concerned by the ways that the administration is instead injecting chaos into the system. Over the last year and a half, we have seen scores of canceled grants, including programs that were helping small producers build out local supply chain infrastructure. We've seen haphazard tariff regimes, which have driven up food prices. We've seen major changes to key programs like the se- section five O two single family housing direct loan program, without notice and comment opportunities that people usually expect. And now we have a war in Iran which is driving up the cost of fuel and fertilizer. And through all of this, I remain concerned about what I'm hearing from farmers and communities in New Hampshire. Concerns about USDA staffing capacity. What we're hearing too many people say is that they are walking into empty or near-empty offices that USDA has occupied in the past and I was disappointed to see that rather than tackling these challenges head-on the President's fiscal year twenty twenty-seven budget request doubles down on many of the cuts that were proposed last year, cuts that this Congress um put money back in to support. The proposed budget I believe once again misses the mark when it comes to advancing critical research, including core capacity and agricultural station funding at our land-grant universities like the University of New Hampshire. Protecting vital nutrition programs, particularly for pregnant women, children and seniors. and restoring key staffing capacity that has been lost over the last year, most notably the institutional knowledge in field offices in the Granite State and across the country. I hope that we'll be able to discuss during this hearing the Food for Peace program as well and other international programs that USDA runs and that this budget proposes to eliminate. What is clear as I said, is that this budget fails to meet the moment. I hope we can once again reject it on a bipartisan basis, because there are still plenty of places where we can work together to deliver for our farmers, for our producers, and for rural America. Again, I appreciate you being here, Secretary Rollins, and I look forward to our discussion. Thank you, Chair Hoeven. Um, actually, if I could just add one more thing before I close, because while it's not under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee, It is under USDA, and I wanna register my strong opposition and concern about the plans to close facilities at the Bartlett Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, where they have been collecting data for about a hundred years. With that closure, that data is gonna be lost. Our experimental forests conduct critical research that supports healthy forests and bolsters local economies. And I hope USDA is gonna reconsider and reverse

Thank you, Senator Shaheen. And with that, Secretary Rollins will turn to you for your opening statement.

Well, thank you, and uh I'll just say first I look forward to working with you. I've kept a list of all of this, so I really appreciate it. Uh, Chairman uh Hoven, Ranking Member Shaheen, and distinguished members of this subcommittee, first I must apologize for my voice. Uh, I'm in the middle of a lot of allergies and I so apologize, but I I didn't wanna cancel on you all and we'll just suffer through it together. So I I apologize at the front end, but but I think we'll get to the end of this. Again, I appreciate the opportunity to provide an update on the Department of Agriculture, the challenges that we've inherited, what we've accomplished so far, and where we are heading under President Trump's leadership, and the opportunity to be back in front of um so many of you friends and partners in this effort uh to revive restore rural America. and certainly at the heart of that, our agriculture system, our farmers and ranchers. Uh, we have not been shy about noting that the uh administration, when we came in a little over a year ago, inherited a farm economy that saw the cost of doing business skyrocket. Commodity prices had plummeted from thirty year highs in the last administration. Farm income experienced historic declines and our farmers saw no new trade deals in four years and inherited a forecasted fifty billion dollar US agricultural trade deficit after leaving just four years before with an agricultural trade surplus. While we've already made substantial progress in reversing this trajectory for American ag, I want to acknowledge that such a seismic reroute cannot happen overnight, which is why it is so important that our work continues, because food security, remains a matter of national security. And it's been a pleasure being able to partner with all of you on both sides of the aisle, as we have continued this important work this last fourteen months. We are providing our farmers with the short-term support that they need through our Farmer Bridge Assistance Program and others. Uh, in just the last year alone, we have delivered tens of billions of dollars in targeted direct relief to farmers, whether r- farmers who are weathering rising input costs devastating for storms and temporary market disruptions. President Trump and our congressional Republicans delivered unprecedented wins, the largest investment in American in rural American history under the working family's tax cuts this included an increase in reference prices for the first time in over a decade Senator Hovind I remember our little meeting last spring when we talked about is there even a possibility to include a lot of this, in the one big beautiful bill. And thanks to your leadership and our president's support, you were able to include those reference price increases, improving crop insurance by enhancing coverage and lowering premiums, making the death tax exemption permanent for over two million family farms, permanently doubling the small business expensing under section one seventy nine, and authorizing, this is just a few wins, authorizing fifty billion dollars for a new rural health transformation program now run by Doctor Oz. Input costs of course remain top of mind for our farmers, and recently USDA has been working literally around the clock to harness the cost of key inputs like fertilizer certainly what has happened in the last forty-five or fifty days the Trump administration has already taken a whole suite of actions to make fertilizer more affordable and available we are working across the cabinet to accelerate private investment to lift permitting slowdowns, to align on challenges, um lifting the Jones Act, opening up lines from Venezuela, and much more to be announced very soon. These are meaningful actions in the short term, but we are also working on a long-term strategy and, and that has really been um the spotlight that has been shined on these input costs recently has allowed a larger conversation than normal about the importance of reshoring our fertilizer industry and certainly our domestic supply. supply chains for our agriculture, including amplifying new technologies and ensuring farmers will continue, continue to have secure, accessible options when any crisis heads our way. I'm confident we will meet this challenge because of how USDA has successfully managed other challenges in the last fourteen months. Senator Baldwin, we were just speaking about eggs before the uh the hearing began and HPAI, one of our very first actions at USDA a year ago was comprehensive one billion dollar plan to combat avian flu and bring egg prices down. That plan is working. HPA, eye cases in commercial poultry and turkey flocks are down sixty-one percent over this time last year, and the number of birds affected are down forty-six percent. Now, we still have a lot of work to do, but we are making progress. Of course, the price of eggs has plummeted as well. We have also made substantial progress to our livestock producers from the New World screw worm. Just Friday, I was in South Texas to break ground on an historical New World screw worm, new sterile fly production facility in America. For decades now, we've relied on a facility in Panama and some facilities in Mexico. But it was time that we, again, reshore the solution to these challenges for our livestock producers. And so we are doing just that at Warp Space. We broke ground and we expect this new facility to be phase one, to be up and running by the end of next year, again something that normally would take three to five years. Through America First trade policies, President Trump has made sure our farmers can compete and win in global markets. We have already secured in just year one alone, eighteen reciprocal trade deals and frameworks that level the playing field and lay the foundation for long-term prosperity. After inheriting a nearly fifty billion dollar agricultural trade deficit, in year one for trump two with no new trade deals under the last administration we are now looking um the data is showing that that agricultural trade deficit will be slashed by forty-two percent in year one of our fir second term alone looking ahead we will continue to build on this momentum improving foreign market access for our producers and addressing the remaining agricultural trade deficit of course that's in combination with the battle to open up the domestic markets for our biofuels uh producers as well. In partnership with Secretary Kennedy, USDA is carrying out the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in American history. Our new dietary guidelines are science-based and entirely devoted to ensuring that American producers are farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of providing affordable nutrient-dense food to American families. It's important to remember that USDA's biggest line item by far are our sixteen nutrition programs where we spend more than four hundred million dollars every single day. This work and so much more is highlighted through our partnership and ensuring across the federal government that we're doing everything we can to ensure that those who truly need the programs have access to them but those who are part of a fraudulent effort to take from our taxpayers and to take from those who are most needy. Currently, an effort being led by our Vice President continues to be a priority for us at USDA. From day one, I have sta- said nonstop, and certainly with you, Senator Hoeven in North Dakota, that farm security is national security. Last summer we launched our National Farm Security Action Plan that boldly integrates agriculture into the federal government's national security strategy for the first time ever. Our plan treats the ownership of farmland, it treats animal disease defense, and it def- it um treats food supply chains as major national security issues that they are. And we continue to work with our congressional and state partners on these issues. Our, I'll close by saying this, our farmers, ranchers, and our rural communities not only feed, fuel, and clothe us, they bear and sustain a set of values that make our very way of life possible, and that is required

Thank you, Madam Secretary, and we'll now turn to uh uh five minute uh rounds of questioning um you know something that you emphasize and and i appreciate very much in terms of the vitality and the future of agriculture value added agriculture ag tech as i mentioned before precision ag and then access to markets all those things i think are things that our farmers and ranchers want and that will make us make them strong uh now and for years to come and and that market based approach is really important Um, right now our ranchers are doing better after a long down cycle. They suffered for a long darn time and people forget how tough they've had it. Mm. And uh, as they work to grow their herds, they've actually increased the amount of meat per animal, Mm. such that we're actually close to record production. I think we hit record production in in two thousand twenty two, but we're very still very close to it. And so, not only will they grow the herds, but they're producing more meat per animals. Well, we need to keep that in mind. And, and they will.

Right.

I know you're very focused on it. Um, again, appreciate the farm bridge assistance program, the twelve billion we uh provided through CCC. And again, thanks to your willingness to be innovative, creative, with the administration of president trump that's how we got it done i wanna thank you for that we need to do more there and so there's two aspects one is i firmly believe that you know supplemental along maybe with weather assistance maybe some uh funding for the military that that there needs to be an ag piece there uh i want your thoughts on that and then also on the ccc which has been a vital vital tool and as you know i feel that we need to increase it and update it and i believe you do too i'll let for yourself on it um but that is a vital tool not only in terms of the title on commodity programs which it funds which of course we have updated our plc which is gonna help our farmers now but that's the mechanism through which it's funded but then it also has a big role to play in terms of the other assistance we have provided um like farm bridge assistance but also conservation other things as well. So if you could kind of if you would kind of reference both what more we do on farm bridge assistance and in your thoughts on ccc.

Yeah, thank you for that. And and so first, um, the importance of moving this assistance out and certainly carving out that additional twelve billion that we released on December sixth of last year with the president in the cabinet room and and focused on that I think was was helpful. Uh, I agree with you. I think there is more to do, and you and I have certainly spoken about that, and I have with many members of your committee. And I personally don't wanna speak on behalf of the administration, but personally would really appreciate the opportunity to ensure that we do have additional funds available, especially as we are facing um some unforeseen consequences of the conflict overseas, especially with some of our input prices. So, I think as these numbers continue to shake out and it's a it's a day-by-day uh dynamic, certainly num set of numbers, but I think those conversations are really important and and your leadership and this committee's leadership in focusing on our ag community Again, it is a a matter of national security, and there's so much we could talk about in that, the consolidation of so many of our industries, the purchase by foreign interest of a lot of our um, lot of our agriculture is all part of this, but being able to support our farmers and ranchers in America, and making sure they can continue what they do best is is a is a priority. So that's the first part. The second part on the CCC, uh, as you know, under the one big beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, there were a lot of new commitments that were made for agriculture and that was welcome and certainly part of our list as well but as a result of that the ccc has become frankly committed perhaps over committed as we look to a new round of payments um and and borrowing against that limit for this year as we move toward this fall there are also some other potential um significant projects that need to be looked at Uh, I'll be announcing a couple of those in the next few days. In fact, I think I'll be in Wisconsin on Monday, Missouri on Friday, to talk about some of this. So, uh, I personally, and have been on record as saying, I think it's time. It's been, what, thirty years since the last time we increased the limit of the CCC, and we would certainly welcome that at USDA.

Yeah, I I think that's right on, and and I would emphasize that that's very bipartisan. That is a tool that has been used by both parties

Mm-hmm.

And I get that the priorities may be a little different from time to time, but that's reality, you know, what's good for the goose, good for the gander. And I think, you know, this committee tries to be bipartisan, and so as we approach that issue, I think we need to be mindful of that.

Yeah.

So, thank you for your comments.

I agree.

Senator Shaheen.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, Secretary Rollins, more than twelve thousand women, infants and children in New Hampshire rely on the WIC program for healthy food, for breastfeeding support, for nutrition education you pointed out how much money we spend on food programs in this country. We know that nationally fifty-three percent of babies born in the country are served by WIC uh ensuring that they have the nutrition they need um to get through to age five. And one of the most most important parts of the WIC program is the cash value voucher, which allows participants to afford the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables each month. Yet, the FY twenty-seven budget request would reduce WIC's cash value voucher back to twenty fourteen levels, providing only thirteen dollars a month for pregnant breastfeeding and postpartum women, and only ten dollars a month for children when adjusted for inflation. Now, I know you've been to the grocery store lately as I have, and that ten dollars or thirteen dollars isn't gonna buy very much fresh fruits and vegetables these days. So, Help me understand these proposed cuts to benefits, given the administration's stated MAHA goals, or the recently updated dietary guidelines for America that would encourage encourage Americans to eat real food. So, how do you s- Can you support fully funding the WIC program and including the cash value voucher program?

Senator, thank you for that question. And what I will say is a lot of The focus and the reason the president was elected in uh in in twenty twenty three for again twenty twenty, sorry twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five was Americans sincerely believed that the government and government programs had just grown too large. And I'll answer, I wanna answer your question directly on Wick, but I just wanna provide the framing for that. And so what we were tasked with as the leads of his agencies was to do everything we could to realign the federal government in putting the taxpayer and the taxpayer dollar to its best and highest use. Having said that, under the Biden administration, the infusion of funding into WIC was a two hundred percent increase under the four years of Biden two hundred percent.

I understand and I I'm sorry to interrupt out of time and I I don't wanna discuss

That's just not sustainable.

the biden administration did i want to discuss

but that's what we're right sizing mmm

amount of money that is being talked about for the cash value vouchers for fruits and vegetables which i believe is too low

so we're returning it we're that well and i think i think certainly we could have longer

good

conversations on that and that's a reasonable position to have we are taking it back to pre covid levels adjusted uh pre covid the rates nine dollars for children eleven dollars for moms um adjusted for inflation. And again, all of these programs are also they're also available through the food stamp program, through the SNAP program, et cetera.

So, as we know, under the big beautiful bill, um, the food programs have been reduced as well. So the SNAP program has been reduced. The number of people who qualify have been reduced. And yet what I hear in New Hampshire when I go home, and New Hampshire is a relatively high income state. We're a small state. And yet what I hear is that we have more and more need for food assistance because people are still food insecure. Keeping on food, um, I wanna go to the foreign assistance programs because I was disappointed to see that the FY twenty-seven budget request eliminated the Food for Peace program, it eliminated McGuvern-Dole Food for Education program. Now, I have appreciated very much the Senator Hoeven and I have worked with Secre- Under Secretary Lindberg on the Food for Peace program. He was very responsive. I'm glad that the FY twenty-five awards have finally been signed and we understand that food will begin to move through the pipelines again soon four months in to this uh new um calendar year and way into the fiscal year. But can you assure us that regardless of where the administration stands on the future of Food for Peace, that if this committee continues to provide funding for it in FY twenty-seven as I

Yes, clearly, if it is funded, anything that is funded from this committee and this congress, we will absolutely step up and do the very best we can to ensure that we're meeting every metric that has been given to us. And I think we've proven that with the Food for Peace program and Under Secretary Lindbergh has been a real um leader on that, I believe, as it's moved over to USDA.

Well, as you know, um, given the other constrain that farmers are struggling under, um, to eliminate this market for them would also be a significant hit. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you, Senator Shaheen. Now, Senator Moran, you're next, but I'm wondering, would you be willing to defer to Senator Collins?

Yeah, I'd love to think about it.

It's a tough question.

I don't know, I'm not sure I'd be able to defer to the chairman of the whole committee.

Sort of at this early point in this been a central time in your life.

Senator Collins. Thank you, Jerry.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mister Chairman, and thank you very much, Senator Moran. That was very gracious of you. Uh, let me start by thanking the secretary for doing taking an action, uh, that we have been pushing for for many years,

Yeah.

and that is the establishment of office of seafood at the usda for recognizing that our fishermen our lobstermen and women are farmers of the sea

that's right

and i'm very appreciative this is something that has been needed to be done for years to help with everything from disaster assistance to marketing opportunities and i am delighted that you have brought it about. So I start with that that thank you and I do wanna point out that the ag appropriations

Thank you.

bill includes funding for you to establish a seafood industry liaison, and hope to see that happen next.

That's great.

Thank you.

Would they be technically ranchers then, or farmers? I stop?

Farmers. We'll see.

Senator, I will say that I remember we talked about this when I came to visit you during the nomination process and I never forgot and um we kinda touched base a few times over the last fourteen months it was I didn't understand why it hadn't been done in the past it seemed so clear to me that was the right thing to do and we had some fishermen I'm so sorry you couldn't be there last week when we launched it but we had some fishermen from your state so gave you a lot of credit for getting to that point and and your leadership and focus on that so thank you it was a honor to get to do it.

Well, thank you for getting it done. There was another issue that you and I um discussed early on and I know have a common concern about, and that is the impact of PFAS,

Mm-hmm.

the toxic class of forever chemicals that are being found in our soils, water, animal feed, crops and livestock. This is having a detrimental impact. on agricultural producers. In Maine, the presence of PFAS and wastewater sludge spread decades ago as a fertilizer, where here the farmers were trying to help out the municipality in which they lived. But the result is preventing some of our family farmers from being able to sell their products, such as milk, for example. causing them significant financial harm. The University of Maine has undertaken research that is relevant to the presence of PFAS and how to remove it. I've been pleased to support this important work by securing nearly thirty-three million over the past five years for the agricultural research service at the University of Maine. to establish a new center of excellence for PFAS solutions. Madam Secretary, I know this is something that's near and dear to your heart, and that your mother has been very involved in this issue as a legislator,

Mm-hmm.

as well, so that you're very familiar with it. I simply will ask that you continue your support of this partnership between the ARS and the University of Maine.

Mm-hmm. Yes, thank you, and and I know Maine is sort of the hub for the research, for the leadership. Uh, it's in large part due, well, probably primarily due to you, if not entirely due to you, Senator. Uh, and certainly as we discussed, um, my my mom, who is the the oldest freshman state legislator in Texas history, maybe in American history, uh, at almost eighty, she ran in one the first time, and she's known as Hurricane Helen in Austin because of this issue. And uh, and she certainly has been a, following in your footsteps, a pioneer. So yes, I am fully supportive and will do whatever I can to make sure we're, we're making sure our farmers and ranchers have what they need on that.

Thank you. Uh, I love your mother's role in this,

Mm. Mm.

and I know that, uh, that she cares deeply about it and is making a real difference. Um, I want to switch quickly to two other issues one is that the budget has cuts in rural development that is extraordinarily important

mmm

to my state which is one of the most rural in the entire nation it helps to provide access to safe and reliable water and wastewater systems telecommunications broadband connectivity housing and so much more So I was disappointed to see that the president's budget request has major funding cuts to several um rural development programs which follows other changes such as handbook revisions, creating significant restrictions on home loans. What is your plan for ensuring that rural Americans continue to have access to programs that rural development has traditionally funded.

Yeah, I I will respond a couple different ways. First, um, obviously my boss, the president, and our OMB is very focused on, um, again, realigning the government and making sure every dollar that is spent is spent in the best possible use. Having said that, I agree with you that our rural development programs are key. uh we have talked at length about the importance of returning prosperity to rural America. Uh having grown up in a town of twelve hundred, raised by a single mom, I I can attest firsthand to the importance of these programs. So finding that balance is what we're looking toward. We did inherit in rural development a twenty five percent default rate for the loans that were pushed out. Um certainly in the last administration there was a lot uh without any guardrails on. So trying to right size that at the same time, uh, that we are writing the budget is a big priority, but understanding that there are, um, really important programs that need to be supported through these programs. So, as I have hopefully for the last fifteen months worked with each of you, when you have something that pops up, something specific, I, my promise is to continue to do that and to keep sending us feedback as well on these programs.

Thank you. And finally, very quickly, uh, Specialty crops are very important in Maine, w- whether it's our wild blueberries, apples, potatoes, and they've had a hard time lately. Our wild blueberry crop and our apple producers were were affected by an excessively rainy spring that prevented pollinization from occurring, and then they were hit with a drought. in the summer and fall. Um, a lot of times the disaster assistance programs are really tailored for row crops, and they're not, they're not easily accessible for specialty crops. There was uh some money set aside, but frankly it's not enough.

No.

So, I would simply ask you to commit to work to ensure that our specialty crop producers have this backstop that is needed to overcome conditions not of their making, not of their fault, but which have a truly detrimental effect.

Yeah, and uh, if I could, ver- three very quick things on this. First of all, we are almost at the finish line for the specialty crop block grant. for Maine. I know we've had nineteen meetings with your team from your state. Uh, we got the work plan about a month ago. We are literally about to be able to deploy those funds. That's the first thing. Uh, the second thing I'll say is in Missouri on Friday. I'll be announcing, um, some tweaks to the SDRP program, and they're tweaks specific to specialty crop producers. If you're a blueberry grower, you don't have the same paperwork that, you know, a a corn or wheat farmer does. And so that has been, what I have learned, is that has been to the detriment of these specialty crop growers. They don't fit into the box of applying for these programs. So we've got a, I think, a really good announcement on Friday to adjust for that and to create some more bandwidth there, which again I don't want to get too far ahead of the announcement. We're still finalizing all the details. And uh and then the third thing on the one billion that we did carve out from the farmer bridge assistance in December of last year we announced, and we are moving through the specialty crop deployment of that funding right now. We got word, we closed, we closed the uh the portal to start figuring out how to deploy the money, and then I got a call from Senator Slotkin actually from Michigan, another big specialty crop state, and she said, Brooke, we like my guys didn't even know how to apply. This is such a a new day for them. So we reopened the portal for another thirty days and deployed more resources to help the specialty croppers be able to apply for these programs. So, Again, I realize we have a long way to go, but I do think we're making some progress.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you, Mr. Coleman. Thank you for allowing me to publicly show my difference.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I knew you would want to.

Such a gentleman.

We knew you'd wanna do that, Senator Moran. Yes. Uh, Senator Merkley.

Oh, thank you very much, Secretary Rollins. And for decades We have successfully partnered in Oregon with USDA's agricultural research service. I visited a number of these research stations on dry wheat and and grasslands and um it is, we have we have berries, we have a horticultural, you know, cause we have so many diverse products uh coming off our our acreage in our in our state. Mm-hmm. So, what I've been concerned about is that I keep hearing from our Oregon producers that our crops are in jeopardy because research positions remain unfilled

hmm

and uh just to give you an example the horticultural crops disease and pest management which does like all this different stuff uh fruits and flowers and vegetables and ornamental plants the whole kind of uh a breath of the horticultural world they lost their their plant pathologist a year ago and the position hasn't been filled and they're also missing administrative officers, lab technicians, and so the scientists don't feel they have the technical support to be able to address the huge variety of of threats that are are coming from every direction, invasive species, and and so on and so forth. Can we fill, can you fill these positions quickly?

Yes, and and why don't we get in touch with your office and if I can get those specifics, I I've just written them down, but Let me get more information and we'll prioritize that.

Great. We'll we'll get you all the details on that. I appreciate that. And then you have amplified and emphasized the importance of of research across the department. But the budget proposes reductions that include the elimination of the forest service research. Now our state is a very uh forested state. We have a lot of different types of conifers, twenty plus uh different different types different slopes different dryland wetland species uh different challenges on on uh mitigation of of pests but just to give you an example uh one threat is sudden oak death and sudden oak death is a big threat as it moves it's kind of a waterborne mold that's that's moving up from california we've been trying to control it but there's a variation of it that is a threat to the douglas fir wow that's a massive concern for our our forest uh world. And so um, do you really wanna eliminate the forest service research or can we persuade you to support that research?

Well, the, I believe what you're talking about, and correct me if I'm wrong, is under the current, the president's current budget that moves, it isn't eliminating it, it's actually moving it over to uh and sorry i didn't prepare as well for forest service cause i didn't realize we're gonna be talking about it but. my understanding is we're actually not getting rid of it. we're just moving it over to the department of the interior so we're aligning all of the research. on the all the forest service um specific programs but. let us look into that if you will my. you know my directive as usda has gone through its reorganization moving the forest service. more to a state-based effort. um ensuring that the people that are serving the forest are the ones that are closest to the forest not necessarily here in washington that nothing has been eliminated we're only realigning and recalibrating to get it closer to the people that it serves and frankly the forest that it serves as well but let let me dig into that and i'll circle back

ok well you did mention an issue i've been more broadly concerned about i'm hearing about it from people all over oregon and that is the the the movement um the well there's two things it's a it's a restructuring of the forest service in general and uh the move of headquarters to salt lake city the move of research headquarters to i believe to colorado

mmm

uh because we have like outstanding research done in our oregon forest well you know every little town was a timber town uh and uh so it's kind of in our our blood in our culture and uh so we've had just world class uh research and we're really worried about losing that. BLM does have forest lands, but the bulk of the forest lands are forest service uh lands so I I would hope that that that if if the research is being moved that maybe and hold a dialogue uh with the stakeholders before making that decision to to to move it.

one hundred percent yes sir i again my understanding is there should be no change to anything in Oregon. The whole goal is to move the all of the work closer to you, not to take it away uh from those that are closest to the forest. So hopefully this is actually additive to that project and that program in Oregon, and that forest specifically, that we'll be able to actually maybe even do a little bit more there. That's the goal.

Well, and that's why I wanna have the stakeholders uh embedded in the conversation, to make sure that it is a a win and an advance and not something that uh reduction my my time's out so i'll just um mention that we are worried about the transfer of the firefighting out of the forest service and again would like to see a a bunch of consultation to make sure that it's done reorganizations in a fashion uh because the forest fires are brutal in the west

no i agreed and and i think you have been part of i i'll start the calls again with our key senators um as we move into fire season i do them weekly and uh and several of it's obviously bipartisan from people from the west um lots of the senators from the ag committee you're on but i'll make sure you have an invitation to that too

ok

where doug bergham and i get on and we just talk to you guys on exactly what's happening where how we're moving resources around what that looks like to your point i'm not sure i've ever been more impressed with a group of people than the us forest service wildland firefighters they are an extraordinary group of patriots who do a remarkable job. And we had a, I don't wanna say a good fire season. No fire season is ever good, but we had a much less, um, destructive one last year than we have in a couple of years, and hopefully we're able to track for that again this year and the coming years.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, sir.

Senator Moran.

Chairman, thank you. Uh, Secretary, welcome. It seems when you're in the room it's like family, and I think Kansas farmers and agriculture producers feel that way as well.

Paul.

I wanna follow up on a topic that Senator, I wanna

You.

talk about five things and i'm gonna try to do it very briefly because i noticed that you're taking notes and i want to have all five on your notepad

make sure i'm writing them all down

thank you and uh topic that was uh raised by senator shaheen uh i continue to believe that food for peace uh the national home for that program is at usda and i'm gonna continue my efforts to uh permanently transfer that program to your department uh in the absence of that transfer i appreciate the arrangement that was made between usda and the state department

mmm

i know in january it was announced that uh usda plan to buy two hundred thousand tons of commodities for the food for peace program uh there's a lot of kansas ties to this food for peace program uh and you're partnering partnering with world food uh program to send it out i think that was done i'm pretty certain it was done with fy twenty five funding you now have fy twenty six funding and uh i presume assume that you'll have fy twenty seven funding Uh, can you tell me what the next step is to make certain that food is in uh, the places it needs to be and that hungry people are being fed? What needs to happen that's not happening?

My understanding from Under Secretary Lindbergh and the team that's been working on this is obviously there's always gonna be a little bit of clunkiness as we're moving things around but that ultimately the team feels confident um, they're happy to accept the program, we have a really good group of people working on it, a lot Fewer numbers than were working on it before, but seemingly it is working. If you were hearing different, please let me know and we'll work to solve for that.

I appreciate that and I'd uh have a shout out for uh Secretary Lindberg Lindberg for his uh leadership in this uh project.

He's been great.

Glad to see this uh take place. Um, I still would like uh to you to for you to join me in Kansas, and I want to show you and let you see for yourself the National Bio-Agroscience Facility uh in Manhattan, Kansas. Um the agricultural appropriation bill required. And first of all, I guess I should say that there are impediments to NBAS uh, coming fully online and taking over the mission of Plum Island, uh, the animal disease center. Uh, but you spoke to this last year, uh, and indicated that USDA was working hard to accomplish this. Secretary Baden has been with me, uh, in Kansas, and I appreciate you, uh, supporting that visit. This is, uh, the largest federal investment in Kansas. in our history.

Yeah.

Uh, one point two five billion dollars, and we have a significant asset that needs to be operational as quickly as possible. And that's for reasons that we wouldn't wanna be wasting those dollars and those personnel those people those expert those people with expertise but also Plum Island, uh, managed by the Department of Homeland Sec- Security is set to close in short order. And we wouldn't want a gap between that time and the capability of NBATH to do the it's being its replacement to do that job.

Correct.

So, uh, you you were required, uh, in a FY twenty six. You not you personally, but the Department of Agriculture to provide a joint brief briefing between USDA and and Homeland Security, uh, to this committee, uh, in regard to this process. That hasn't happened, and I would guess it's because of the shutdown at at the Department of Homeland Security. But I would highlight for you that in in the absence of that, I'd love to have a conversation you and I personally about uh that about in bath and i'll restate my invitation for you to see but i'd like to be able to personally uh impress upon you the value of this asset um

i would welcome that and i have touched base with the new secretary mulins on this and uh once the dhs is back up and running he is ready to go so we'll get that scheduled yeah

uh fertilizer production uh and fertilizer prices uh as you know the american farm bureau indicated that seventy percent of farmers are unable to afford fertilizer that they need this season. On Tuesday you stated that more details would be forthcoming at on USDA's work in the fertilizer space. Anything you wanna share today?

Uh, don't wanna get ahead of any any uh finalization, what I will say is we've had daily calls with the White House, with um EPA, with DHS, with uh DHS, with uh Commerce. with treasury the very top of these organizations for an all of government approach on fertilizer obviously the short term issues are acute and really require significant effort uh as we work to bring those prices down for the short term as i mentioned in my opening remarks the long term though cannot be overlooked the fact that we have offshored so much of our fertilizer over the last decade or so is a astounding to me. It is a national security effort uh issue and we're relying on Russia and China for our fertilizer. So the announcements coming um I think will be on both the short and the long term, but really good news long term structurally and some potential funding that's going to be there. And I've been talking to the heads of the big fertilizer companies as well.

It is hugely significant. The price is uh dramatically uh different and um I would indicate that we've asked uh the folks at uh uh the department of commerce to look at tariffs that are placed on input uh issues commodities that come from outside the united states morocco for example

right

uh and it's we have american fertilizer producers but the components some of the components in which they use to make that fertilizer are subject to tariffs increasing the price so we want to manufacture process and create fertilizer in the united states but we still have to import some of the So there's an opportunity there for that to occur.

Correct.

I have two more points which I will only mention and then talk to you in person, only one. Forty five Z and sustainable aviation fuel.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, please make certain that, uh, we have a opportunity to have a conversation about another renewable fuel that could, uh, advance the cause of profitability in agriculture. Uh, thank you, Secretary.

Well, thank you, Senator.

I believe I'm likely next.

He's w- he's been waiting very patiently.

OK. Um.

Senator Baldwin.

Thank you. Um, I always love it when there's overlap in our questions, and I wanna say that Senator Moran, um, uh, both his last point but also the, uh, longer question before was exactly where I wanted to start. I'm not going to have you, uh, repeat what you were saying to him. Um, I'm listening with, uh, interest about announcements that might be forthcoming. feel free to uh uh answer it for the record later but i just wanna reiterate that i too am hearing from my farmers and our agricultural in industry about their struggles with the trump's uh trump administration's tariff policies and trade uh wars input mmm costs from fertilizer to farm machinery um and fuel um but rising fertilizers uh fertilizer costs are top of mind Right now.

Mm-hmm.

And I hear from farmers back home, uh, uh, routinely about this. The war in Iran is driving up the cost of fertilizer and fuel, and farmers are heading into the spring planting season facing significant financial strain. So as I said before, um, I, I want some assurances that the administration is taking this very seriously. Um, but you, as, as you just said to Senator Moran, you have some forthcoming announcements if you can get back to me also with that information um my farmers need relief sure emphatically yes ma'am um secretary rollins um this is not the first time that you and i have talked about the dairy business innovation initiative last february mmm um trump's dei executive order froze funds for the dairy business innovation initiative funds that were already appropriated I sent a letter to USDA, then you and I spoke on the phone to restart these, uh, already committed payments. Given the valuable investment that this program provides for dairy farmers and the bipartisan support behind it, I was disappointed to see that the administration proposed eliminating the Dairy Business Innovation Initiative for fiscal year twenty twenty seven. explain why the usda wants to eliminate a program that so many american dairy farmers and rural communities benefit from

senator i will need to look into that and get back to you do you know which was that under the r d budget do you know where where specifically what budget that was under cause that's the first

under the ag marketing

oh under ams ok ok yeah let me look into that and get back to you obviously We have been working around the clock on the dairy um opportunities, whether it is uh putting whole food uh whole milk back in schools, uh the dairy exports are expected to be up seventeen percent this year. I've actually visited six dairies in the last year and will continue to do so. So uh my commitment is to look at that very, very closely and make sure that if it is important, you and I have discussed it before, that uh that that program continues to receive the support it deserves.

OK. Um, I will look forward to that. Um, this past, uh, December, Wisconsin had its first confirmed case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy cattle.

Yeah, but is it?

This spring,

That's it? That's what she said.

Wisconsin la- lost over four point three million hens and two farms, uh, had to lay off eighty-seven employees between the two. Uh, the public health response has. been expensive for American farmers and American taxpayers. The response from this administration has been lacking, and it seems like this administration continues slow-walking its own approach for a vaccine plan. So, Secretary Rollins, I have written you twice since December about the pressing urgency of the outbreak, and, um, I asked you to deliver on your pledge to address avian influenza following through on nationwide vaccination policy. Well, I do appreciate your response that I received at one p m today to my letter.

I'm sorry.

Um, I

We're gonna do better, we're doing better, we're gonna do better, I promise.

Didn't get it before the hearing. Um, I still don't feel confident that the administration is taking the vaccine policy seriously so what updates on deploying these vaccines can you provide us today?

Well, if I may, Senator, the first thing I'll say is I'll I'm gonna gently push back that we haven't taken it seriously. I'm not sure other than the screw worm that I have spent more time in the last fourteen months on any one issue than I have on HPAI. And in fact, I've been in touch with all of your governors, all of your ag commissioners. We put a billion dollars into this effort a year ago. We spent about four hundred and fifty million on biosecurity as we're working on the vaccine question. My, and we, we have a hundred million dollars. We have an innovation grant challenge. We've got about eighty different um private sector partners that are looking to move out. on that we've already awarded the funding. I mean, this all of this is moving very significantly with good news coming. As I mentioned, the HPAI numbers are significantly down this year because of the biosecurity, sixty-one percent down in cases, forty-six percent down in birds. Um, the vaccine question is one I take very, very seriously. Uh, in looking around the world, there hadn't yet been a vaccine that had been deployed successfully, that had actually beaten the HPAI back. Having said that, France is in year two. The Netherlands is in year one, uh, and I think one other European country. So now we begin to see some movement around the world. Uh, there was some real concern. I visited several of the labs that are researching this, that if we put a vaccine out too quickly, the virus could mutate, which viruses usually do, and jump to humans. So that's why I have been so extremely careful in stepping out on a vaccine, and doubling down on the biosecurity. Having said that, We are we are as close as we have been. We're looking at pilot projects right now. Uh, we just I have not felt comfortable yet deploying that, but as you can see based on funds spent, Senator, we are taking this very seriously and and will continue to do so. That's my promise that.

Thank you, S- Senator Baldwin. Senator Rounds.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, thank you. Feels good.

Senator Hoeven's coming back.

All right.

He's at a hearing.

Um, first of all, Ma- Madam Secretary, first of all, thanks for being here today.

Thank you.

Uh, I wanna talk just a little bit about a couple of items that that we've visited about in the past. Um, first of all, throughout your year in office you have uh made eating real food and making America healthy again a priority. Had a very similar discussion uh yesterday with Secretary Kennedy

Mm-hmm.

and appreciate each of you partnering together on this issue. South Dakota farmers and ranchers have worked tirelessly to produce the safest and the highest quality products in the world. I have serious concerns regarding lab grown cells or cell cultivated products, attempting to enter the US food system posing as meat. One example of these experiments takes pork fat cells grown in a lab and combines them with plant protein. This product is sold to consumers at the grocery store as a meatball. Yesterday in our subcommittee secretary Kennedy expressed his concerns with the overall safety of these products. My question to you today is on labeling. Do you share my concerns with these ultra-processed, lab-grown products being labeled as meat?

One hundred percent.

Thank you. If we both believe in truth in labeling, I was pleased to see your administration roll out out guidance for the product of the USA label for meat, poultry and egg products, derived from animals exclusively born, raised and harvested. I'll say that again, exclusively born, raised, harvested and processed in the United States. As you know, for years we've led the effort in the Senate to restore integrity to this voluntary label through my bill the USA Beef Act. My question, as a follow-up uh question to your last answer, Secretary Rollins, do you believe any ultra-processed, lab-grown products should ever receive the product of the USA label?

Absolutely not.

Thank you. And then Secretary Rollins, in order to help consumers have transparent labeling, does the USDA plan to establish a uniform labeling standard for products that are made with lab-grown cells so consumers aren't misled?

i am not familiar with anything happening right now but if it is not happening it will begin this afternoon yes

excellent i like that answer that's appreciated um let me talk just a little bit uh in in in south dakota we had a very unfortunate instance where the maude family uh family farming operation had a real serious discussion over about twenty some acres of land where there was a dispute on on boundary layers Talk a little bit about your approach with resolving these issues and the way that you wanna see the Department of Ag work with our farmers and ranchers, where if there are boundary disport disputes with the forest service and so forth, how do you wanna see those handled in the future?

Well, thank you for bringing that up. One of the first things that I found out when I arrived at USDA in mid-February of last year was the weaponization of the forest service against a lot of our great ranchers, especially in the west. And this particular case, you had a mom and dad in their thirties, two young children, uh, a fifth generation rancher. It was an argument over where a fence was placed and an irrigation spigot was placed on twenty acres of their thousands of acres that her great, great, great, great, great grandfather had been using the same fence line, spigot, et cetera. Um, the forest service showed up, arrested, indicted, and basically said, you need to find someone else to raise your children because you're gonna go to jail. over this fence line. And so, this was in the last administration. So obviously when we got here, one of the first things we did was drop those charges, the criminal and the civil charges, et cetera. It goes to the larger question, sir, of the lawfare that, and I believe this is non-partisan for the record. I I I don't think this is a Republican or Democrat thing. I don't think anyone thinks that a rancher should go to jail other than maybe an errant forest service employee uh over a disputed fence line. That's that's not America. So Using the Maude case, had Andy Henry in New Jersey, we had the Kings in Washington State, really working to shine a light on what's happened at every level of government, especially as we're fighting to keep our family farms and ranches in the family, and farming and ranching and not offshoring our food to other countries. This is how existential I believe this issue is, and and uh and the Maude case has really helped us lead the way. We have a law fair portal now at USDA, we meet weekly to go through the cases, and working with the forest service to ensure that these things don't ever happen again.

Thank you Madam Chair, and I'll just say one more thing and I know uh my time is about up but E fifteen is critical in this country if we wanna reduce gas prices. E fifteen right now, uh I would just ask for your support in trying to get E fifteen available year-round. Uh the the the savings um to the consumers in this country and the improvement for farmers and ranchers producing additional American energy is huge. I would just ask for your support in getting that across to finish line.

One hundred percent I have been unequivocal. And in fact, when the president visited Iowa, he mentioned it in his remarks in Iowa, and he has since, uh, tweeted about it or truth socialed about it. So I think you have an administration that perhaps is more in line and supportive than ever before and we will continue to be so.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you. Thank you, Senator Rounds, Senator Heinrich.

Thank you. Um, secretary, at the end of March you announced the reorganization of the forest service. Uh, that's a decision that's gonna impact management of a hundred and ninety-three million acres of national forest land and thousands of employees. Um, the, this is what I have, but I'd like to have more. I mean, it's great to have a summary, but I've seen IKEA directions that were longer than this. So I wanna drill down a little bit and ask you related questions, and then just ask you to be transparent with the committee with exactly how you see this reorganization playing out. How much is it gonna cost to relocate staff to the to the new offices, to locations that don't currently exist, like Salt Lake City?

But do we have those exact numbers? We're still working on those numbers, Senator, but we'll make sure, and get those to you. Ultimately, it's a massive cost savings, but that initial cost, I don't have those numbers, but we'll we'll run those and make sure and get those

Would

to

Would love to see that initial cost. And one of the things I'm concerned about is um, I don't wanna see cost savings because we don't have people in place to be able to manage our our forest lands. And when we moved the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado, um, we saw eighty-seven percent of the folks decide not to do that and that that was not a reflection on colorado it's a great place to live but people have lives they have families their their spouses have jobs they oftentimes don't have the flexibility to just pick up and move especially if they're fairly advanced in their career how how have you looked at the potential loss in in management capability for those folks who are not gonna wanna move from a regional office or from the headquarters to Salt Lake City.

So, Senator, it'll be interesting if I'm still in this role in a year from now, um, I think we'll have the data to show our initial conversations, our initial meetings. We've been extremely intentional about talking to our teams, what this potentially looks like, and for the most part, most of our the the career staff at USDA is extraordinary and I've I've been blown away, but for the most part, Um, most are really excited for the opportunity to leave, no offense against Washington DC, but to leave an extremely expensive area where most a lot of our guys are having to live an hour away, ninety minutes away. And instead the opportunity to be closer to their work, to be closer, they can have a bigger home and a better school. And there's just so much opportunity out in America. We're not, there's no reduction in force here at all. It is just a move. We're doing it very carefully this summer so that people that would have kids in school, we're not ripping them out in the middle of school. We're working really hard to solve for those issues. But again, I understand your concern and uh and and would really welcome the opportunity to keep talking about it. With your state, clearly you're, you know, uh very in the middle of all of it and and we've got some really good locations in Albuquerque and other places and and again I I would welcome the opportunity to keep the dialogue open, as it's happening.

Oh, I appreciate that. How how are you gonna comply with the um uh the reprogramming uh requirements that are in the current interior approach bill.

I'm sorry.

The reprogramming requirements, cuz I assume you're gonna have to reprogram funds to be able to effectuate this reorganization.

Oh the reprogramming of the funds, that we've already met, Deputy Secretary Vaden has been working on this nonstop with our team, a lot of them sitting in here today, and the work in partnership with the OMB has been going on our office of management budget for the last year. And uh my understanding is the reprogramming is underway. It is there, it's gone very smoothly and will continue to do so. Again, finding the new office space, the new research facilities, aligning with land grant institutions, uh is all a really positive way to move all of this out and has been been very productive.

I I praise that because it it there is a requirement for both notification and approval of the house and senate committees on appropriations. So that's a piece that needs to happen if you're gonna make public

OK, we'll follow up with you on that. Thank you, sir.

of this scale. Um can you provide the committee uh with the the new organization chart? Is that something that that already exists?

I believe that's under production right now, but let me follow back up with you directly on that, and and we'll make every effort to get that to you at the very earliest. point. I'm gonna write that down.

And I'm gonna run out of time here pretty quick, but um, are you in consultation with state governors, uh, in those states where we have national forests and regional offices?

Yes.

Across the board, all of them.

I personally have spoken to Governor Polis of Colorado, Governor Cox of Utah. Uh, I have not yet spoken personally with the Governor of Washington or Oregon, but I would welcome that opportunity and will do so. I have not spoken to your governor yet, but I would really welcome the opportunity to do that as well.

I think that's important.

Yes, I'll I'll add that to my list and and in fact if you wanna connect us, Senator, that would be great. I don't know that I have her number.

OK.

That would be great.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Senator Heinrich, Senator Husted.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, Secretary Rollins, thanks for being here. I I think you uh were sworn in on february the thirteenth of last year in my state ohio we were right in the midst of an outbreak of avian flu

yes that's right mmm

and uh we lost five thousand or five million egg laying hens during that period and i know that uh senator baldwin talked a a little bit about this in her questions to you so i wanna i wanna follow up on what you would foresee over the course of the next year

mmm

happening to prepare uh i know this this comes down to the question of of the vaccinations

mmm mmm

and and um does it work is it a solution is it just something that people say is a solution but we don't really know like explain to us where you think this is going so that i can relay this to our

our poultry.

Yeah, and and the couple of times I have been in your state with your governor, we have visited some of these egg farmers and it is devastating. I mean, I I'm sitting around a round table with fifth and sixth generation, you know, rough and tough farmers and their tears, like, well, Brooke, we don't know what to do. Like, this is it is so devastating to have to depopulate tens of thousands, millions of birds. And and we believe the answer is a vaccine. And, and I respond with, and to you as well, that could be the answer, and very well may be the answer. But at that moment in time, this was last summer, we don't have all the data and I am not willing to put America up on the experimental block to lead the rest of the world on this when we don't understand what that virus can do. We know it's already hopped to dairy cattle and to cattle. And so, We just need more information. But in the meantime, we found five hundred million dollars, but we recalibrated five hundred million dollars from other programs to invest in biosecurity. And, Senator, that has made a difference. As I mentioned, we're sixty percent down this year in cases, forty-six percent down in D pop.

So And that's great, and I, but I, I would ap- I would appreciate if you could keep us informed about where, where you think it's going, what the timeline is, and, and Look, I'm not advocating for you to do it or not do it, I just I think we're just trying to figure out what

That's right, and that's so fair, and the hundred million dollars we've spent on innovation, um, I think eighty percent of that is going into the research behind a vaccine, and potential pilot projects that we'll be rolling out.

OK. Um, I wanna switch to swine, uh, the the US swine health improvement plan continues to improve health and marketability for US swine. I've talked to some uh some of our hog farmers uh producers earlier this week but they said that this program still lacks an approved federal advisory committee under the federal advisory committee act and can you uh let us know where that approval stands um and how we might work to make it come forward cause they've they've asked they've

yes uh no and and certainly animal disease is we've actually spent a lot of time on animal disease today is is a top priority and and certainly our pork producers are facing um some significant challenges from the animal disease uh we are my understanding is we're looking at that very very closely of course this administration's focus has been to get rid of FACAs um trying to slim government down but i think a case has been very well made that it would be important in this instance and the partnerships that the FACAs allow between the private sector and between government that's probably there's no word that that's more important. than at USDA from my perspective with agriculture, so we're moving that along. I wanna make sure I'm not missing anything here for you, but but why don't I um get a little more information on that and a timeline, Senator?

This particular case, it's the people that it would advise and regulate are the ones that want it. So, you know, this is

That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah.

Yeah, and and then finally uh finally I just wanna say thank you for something.

No, I understand.

You approved Ohio's uh request to prohibit the purchase of of uh sugary drinks through the snap program and uh this is something that that uh literally has we've been working on our state for over two decades to try to figure out cause it's a such a huge contributor

mmm

to diabetes and obesity and unhealthy outcomes for people who are lowest income uh americans and the fact that we can that we can demonstrate that the the money can go to better things and that we can hopefully improve diets and health outcomes. Just uh it was a important thing for our state. We uh we asked for it and appreciate the approval of it.

Thank you. No, thank you. Ohio is one of twenty-two states so far that has applied and been approved, and we're really proud of that. I think that the front-end of it is important, but the health outcomes that it will um result in is gonna be a game-changer for our for our lower income communities.

Great, thank you.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Husted. Senator Peters.

Thank you, uh. Secretary Rollins, it's really good to see you uh here today,

Hi, good afternoon. You too.

uh O'Pole as well, and um just have a few questions for you. First off, um in in my home state of Michigan uh I think you're you're well aware of uh our agricultural sector and we are the uh second largest contributor or agriculture's second largest contributor to our state's economy, and our specialty crop industries are a big part of that equation. In fact, most people don't realize in terms of the diversity of

That's right. Mm-hmm.

Uh, which is uh incredible uh testament to specialty crops. Uh, that's why I've long fought uh for strong funding for the AFIS specialty crop pest program, and why I'm pleased to see that when you were in Michigan uh just last week,

Yeah. Yes.

uh, to announce the availability of over two hundred and seventy-five million in FY twenty-six grant funding for the specialty crop uh industry. Uh, that uh, announced funding is in part uh, coming through the specialty crop block grant program. And while I certainly support uh, the funding, I've also recently fielded some questions about future implementation uh, of this program. Specifically uh, secretary, I I've heard a good deal of concern regarding USDA's announcement that, starting in fiscal year twenty-seven, the agency will require a twenty-five percent cost share for all program uh, s- sub-awards. The specialty crop uh block grant program was created to address basically a structural gap in federal fund policy, namely that specialty crop growers uh basically receive little or no direct support compared to the traditional crop uh programs. So my worry is that this new cost share is basically gonna box out some of our smaller specialty crop uh industries, Mm-hmm. who won't have the resources to hit hit that match. And basically by having that large increase in the match, you're, in my mind, defeating the original intent of the program, which is to help these smaller, especially crop uh folks. So I'd love to know more details about this cost share and how USDA came to this particular decision including which stakeholders the agency consulted with in making the decision uh and and uh I hope that is something you can provide either now or to my team in a follow-up but I think we need to make sure

Yeah, Senator, let me dig into that a little bit more, and then why don't we get on the phone about that. Uh, listen, the specialty crops, uh, the time I spent in Michigan, the time I spent in other states where that's such an important piece, those are our smaller farmers. I mean, those are, you know, the the men and women and the multi-generational apple farmers and blueberry farmers and and others that uh we are fighting everyday to keep in business and to support and they have struggled and struggled so uh let me dig into that a little bit more and see if there is an alternative solution to that that we can come up with but i i agree with you that's really important

i appreciate that i look forward to the the follow-up with you and your and your team um you made uh the uh specially crowdfunding announcement that i mentioned uh earlier Uh, at Michigan State University, a really good choice, I may say, for you to to go there.

It was great. It was great.

Uh, so I I trust, uh, while you were there at that very great school, uh, you saw firsthand the critical role that land-grant universities uh play in supporting uh ag producers

Yes.

and the rural economy uh generally. And while I'm very supportive of the funding for the specially-cropped research initiative announced during, uh, your trip, I am, I will say, disappointed that the president's budget request proposes to eliminate critical support for the hatch formula research funding that directly supports faculty salaries and research center operations where this research is actually uh conducted additionally the uh budget request proposes to slash in half the funding for cooperative uh extension uh which as i know you know cooperative extensions very well uh this basically they take applied research and actually translate it into the real world uh to make sure that they're addressing agricultural development needs and those farmers can get the best, the best of the best of research in order to enhance their productivity and their and their bottom line. So my question for you is why are these long-standing research resources that do so much for our farmers and for our rural communities, actually being targeted for cuts in the budget request?

Yes, sir. The the answer to best answer your question, um, let me just say that This President and White House, um, and and certainly our Cabinet are behind the idea that a a formula fund isn't the best and most responsible way to support taxpayer dollars. And what happens with the formula funding versus the specific funding, like the specialty crop announcement we made at two hundred and seventy-five million, the specific funding is a better way to utilize taxpayer dollars. But to your point, I'm a Texas A and M alum and Um, we can probably argue, you and I, around and around. We actually already have on who's got the best land grant. Uh, but,

We have. This is an ongoing debate.

yeah, yes. Yeah, it is an ongoing debate, understandably. Uh, but, but certainly the formula funds has led to some unfortunate support of research that I don't think anyone would necessarily agree with some specific cases. So, this is really an effort of this president and this White House and our cabinet to, to maybe reset what we're funding, good discussion about it and make sure that every dollar that's being deployed is being deployed to its highest and best use. Having said that, there is no one who's more supportive of our incredible land grants than I am, and I'm proud every day to work alongside them and and hope to support them moving forward.

Well, I'd hope so. And and the extension programs in particular.

Incredible.

Uh, but you and you've seen that firsthand uh in your home state as well, I know.

Oh, absolutely, and as a as a proud recipient and and product, frankly, of the extension programs, having been in Agriculture Major at Texas A and M. The new Texas A and M President just announced, started as an Assistant Extension Agent. I in fact told the Michigan State President whose name is very difficult, I can't remember, Doctor Drew something. Um, I had a great chat with him, Michigan State's President, uh about connecting them. So yes, those are vital, especially when we talk about rural America and returning prosperity to rural America. That's a lot of the heartbeat and the soul of uh of rural America and Michigan. in Texas and New Hampshire and North Dakota and Mississippi and Nebraska and all across the country.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you so much, sir.

It's good to see you.

Senator I. Smith.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you, Secretary Rollins, for being here and doing such an incredible job. You've truly been an outstanding leader for farmers and ranchers and during some tough times,

Mm-hmm.

and I just want you to know that you are very much appreciated.

Thank you.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to support, I want to express my support for the newest edition of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee staff, Miss Laura Lee Burkett.

Welcome.

We uh look forward to working with you and excited that you're here, and uh I know that you will help move this subcommittee in great direction, so no pressure there. But we welcome you. Secretary Rollins, my first question pertains to a problem landowners in Mississippi are having, they've been experiencing with the enrollment and the participation in the USDA's voluntary conservation programs, Mm-hmm. administered by the NRSC, Mm-hmm. the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The problem is primarily associated with the uh NRCS's working lands program, which are so vital to allowing farmland to remain in production while also addressing natural resource concerns. for s specifics to that area and uh before a land owner can participate in this program an agency cultural resource specialist must sign off on it to confirm proposed practices made the cultural resources and the uh historic preservation requirements the problem is we've been without an nrcs cultural resource specialist in mississippi for quite some time

mmm

and uh it just resulted in a lot of producers having to wait for a very long time for the surveys needed to implement the um projects that they're working on that's pretty vital to their operations and some landowners have spent tens of thousands of dollars on common sense conservation improvements knowing that they would not impact cultural resources in any way but yet they still haven't been approved

Hmm.

And uh they haven't been informed, they've been informed that they may never get approved.

Hmm.

So we're very concerned about that and we know every NRCS funded or assisted program projects triggers federal reviews required by all of the agencies, National Historic Preservation Acts and all of those things. So this position is pretty critical uh for USDA to fulfill its contractional obligations farmers and landowners and uh eliminating duplicative paperwork reducing the administrative burden I hear from all of these people cause I know all of these people mmm and improving the program delivery is one of the USDA's twenty twenty seven budget initiative highlights so uh by mmm talking to your team I understand that you are making a lot of progress here and I wanted to let you know your team's been so good to work with. mmm

Thank you.

We'd really appreciate the response and, uh, the way that they dive in for us.

They're the best. Yeah.

But,

Thank you.

uh, I just wanna thank you for working with us to resolve this issue. And do you have any comments that you would like to make?

Yes.

And will you, you know, just let us know your commitment of working with Congress going forward to get this to where it needs to be?

One hundred percent. And I think that I know specific to your case, Senator, I know there's now a Tiger team in place. I know that we have um updated our training manuals and hopefully this is across the country, not just Mississippi to ensure that there isn't a absolute, no one's in the, no one can approve this stack of of applications then that doesn't help anybody, so we need to amend that, we're doing that right now. Uh we are completely recalibrating our hiring processes and moving trying to get more people in right away uh in all of these offices. And and I think we're making progress, I just met earlier today with Bill Beam and Richard Fordyce who run this area for us, we've got ten of our top state executive directors for uh NRCS and and FSA coming in next week. I'm gonna meet with them, we're brainstorming um how do we do better, how do we make sure we're there for the farmers, how do we ensure that that we're not sitting in in spots like this, that we are obviously in the Mississippi and I'm sure other states as well. The one there are s- there is some good news, just very quickly um I think is important and I know not everybody's here, but one of the bright spots of the last year was us launching one farmer one file. It isn't specific to this case, but it is specific to the overall running of USDA in these local offices. That one farmer one file, we pivoted the Doge team late last spring to basically fix this insane IT system that USDA has. More than one thousand contractors spending more than a billion dollars, five hundred systems stacked one on top of the other. It's no wonder that we're still in the dark ages when our farmers are trying to get these programs moving and funded. And so we launched one farmer one file in January. And just as an example, in four days when we moved out the farmer bridge payment, we had fifty-two thousand applications in four days. As an example, six months before, as we moved out the SDRP and the ECAP and some of those programs, it was five thousand applications over five months. So fifty-two thousand applications over four days versus five thousand over four months. So my hope is that by moving into this current technology phase, never taking away the face-to-face, especially for the older generation of farmers, but as the newer generation comes up, we're gonna be able to solve a lot of this with technology. But uh but I hear you and I keep telling everyone, send me these stories of you guys not getting done what you need to get done and we will solve for it.

Great, thank you. And I had one other question about my Buy American Cotton Act that I'm so excited about.

Yes.

I know it really has nothing to do with this.

Yes.

But I think it could really be a game changer for many, many producers in this state, and I'll submit that for the record. Thank you.

Well, and if I can quickly say, I I'm with you a hundred percent, from a cotton state to our cotton farmers have just been devastated. And I, you know, we talk a lot about corn and soy and and and soybean, all the things, but I feel like our cotton guys have been a little bit left out, and I think this is a game changer for them. I love your leadership on it. I wanna do whatever I can to support it. And I think one, I've told a lot of the cotton farmers with the new Make America Healthy Again movement, I know we're talking a lot about food, but let's talk about what we're wearing as well. And uh and I see a whole re-invigoration hopefully of that industry and and and bringing it back to where it needs to be.

Yeah, we don't eat cotton, but it is healthier for your skin to wear it.

It sure is, it sure is. And that's coming out more and more now. So it's a it's a big it's a big important issue for ag. Yeah. Thank you, Cindy.

Food, fuel and fiber,

Correct.

and I've seen some really great ads on buying domestic cotton. It's really good stuff.

Yes.

So, um, good luck with that initiative. Senator Fischer.

Thank you, Senator Hoeven. Uh, welcome, Secretary. It is so good to see you.

Good afternoon.

I wanna thank you again for coming to Nebraska in March. I'm just so appreciated when you came out and spent time to survey the moral wildfires that we had. Over eight hundred thousand acres burned, largest fires in Nebraska history.

Devastating.

Uh, to have you there sent um a good, good message to the um people and communities that are suffering. And I know your team has been working to uh get that disaster assistance out as quickly and efficiently as possible. For years after wildfire wildfires we've heard such frustrations from producers they apply for assistance after a natural disaster that's very complicated very time consuming uh they've shared with my office that they're required to use a specific size of t post to receive federal assistance but their area is completely out of it

right

uh those posts due to the surge in demand post fire I do have a bill for that. We uh were able to get it uh passed last month uh by unanimous consent here in the Senate. Uh as we are looking at at so many of these programs, Madam Secretary, can you discuss how the programs and the FSA processes can be improved so we can get that assistance out the door more quickly, and there are there ways that Congress can be more helpful in that?

Well, I think your leadership and focus on that, Senator. It was a remarkable day for a lot of reasons. That was one of the perhaps one of the worst disasters in Nebraska's history, the largest fire in Nebraska's history, the eighth largest in American history. Because it was in more rural America, it didn't get the focus and the and the amplification that it it needed. Uh, but my goodness, the devastation to our ranchers and farmers that were in that part of Nebraska is real, and talking about losing generations of of cattle farms because they're not gonna be able to graze because the the land has been burned at least for uh eighteen months or so but also the the just the the pioneering spirit and and the love of of farming and ranching and of god and of country and of state was was so inspiring to me and and in fact yesterday to your point to get your question uh i've stayed in touch with all the farmers that i met i gave them my direct email i said email me if you have any issues getting the funding you know as these programs are moved through on disaster relief. So yesterday, I can't remember his name, but I got an email from a um a farmer that also digs water wells. And he said the the funding's coming through to

Farmer at the at the round table,

Yes, yes.

that's where I was talking to you, yeah.

Yes, and and he emailed me, he said the funding is coming through to dig whole new wells, but we don't need to dig new wells, we just need new component parts. But under the current way the rules are written, the regs are written, we can't get that. And that's the kind of thing that sent over to Aubrey Bettencourt who's our incredible chief at the NRCS and working with a lot of these programs that we can adjust on the you know uh as quickly and nimbly as is humanly possible so um my understanding is that and I've given carte blanche to our FSA executive director on the ground in Nebraska you work seven days a week twenty hours a day with these farmers to get them what they need eh if you're hearing differently please let me know but but again we've given our FSA leads in all of these states with the disasters, um hopefully the ownership to be able to go out and make some of these decisions, so they're not strung up in bureaucracy.

With, with our FSA offices, uh the office in Ocalaala, Nebraska, which is uh the, close to the closest uh city where the, these fires took place, it's closed. And so uh the Sidney office, which is uh several hours away, uh they're, they're working with the Ocalaala office, but that's something I heard from uh nebraska california who worked

we need to fix that

today but

so the fsa office closest to those affected is not doesn't have staffing

and i i know in the budget there is a budget proposal uh from

ok

from the usda it proposes a two hundred forty one million dollar decrease in fsa salaries and expenses and i as you know i'm all for uh working to make sure we're as efficient as possible But I also wanna make sure that our local Nebraska FSA offices, that they have that proper staffing so they can assist our our producers. So how how do we uh ensure that those offices have the staffing?

Yeah, we we need to send, just like we sent a Tiger team into Cindy's uh Senator Hyde-Smith's uh office in Mississippi, we need to do the same in Ogallala. And what I have tasked our farm service agency Richard Fordyce is a farmer from Missouri. He is one of the greatest leaders I've ever worked with. He and Bill Beam, who's running FSA. That's what we've got ten of our top uh team coming in next week to brainstorm on this. Uh, we have to make sure at the very front line that our farmers have what they need from these offices. And and I realize it has not been um an A plus situation, and not just in the last year, but over the last number of years. So ensuring that we are reorganizing to to make sure that that is the priority, continues to be my priority, and I'm planning to spend more time on this issue this year, including visiting the FSA offices, understanding firsthand, getting monthly reports, understanding what the strategic plan is for all of these offices to make sure we're doing everything we can to to do our best.

Well, I appreciate your attention to that, And if you could keep me informed on uh on what you're doing there uh, uh that would be helpful as well. Again, thank you for your visits to Nebraska.

Yeah.

to the university, uh, it's always important to be able to see, uh, the people that you work for,

Correct.

uh, see them in their in their own homes, their own settings. So thank you, Madam Secretary.

It makes all the difference. It makes all the difference. Thank you, Senator.

Thank you, Senator Fischer. Uh, again, Secretary, you've been very, uh, accommodative with your time, we appreciate it. We know you have a four fifteen hard stop. Uh, final, uh, quick question on my part, and I thank Senator uh ranking member Shaheen has one as well

absolutely

um there's fifty five million in the appropriate in the budget for uh the restructuring we're supportive as you know particularly as far as moving some of the folks out of DC and out into the rural areas uh just a quick update on how that effort's going

yeah so we announced the forest service um reorg a few weeks ago and that's going very well Uh, this week, by the end of this week, we'll be announcing the next phase of the reorganization. Uh, we're finalizing that today, so I don't wanna get too too ahead of the teams, but I think it's all really good news. People are very excited. This next round will include some of the research work, which was interesting. We had some conversation on that. Moving our researchers, um, to closer to the land grant institutes, closer to where the actual research is happening, and the people who made a

Yeah, and we appreciate you uh keeping us updated on that. Thank you.

Um,

Ranking member, Shaheen.

Thank you. I I wanna go back to my opening comments about the Bartlett experimental forest research um site because

You're too late.

as as you point out part of the forest reorganization is has suggested that you're gonna close a number of the eighty-four experimental forest research sites in the country. Two have been announced to date, one is Bartlett in New Hampshire, the other is in Hawaii.

Mm-hmm.

But we have another one, Hubbard Brook. Um, and Maine has two sites, Massabesik and Penobscot, that are both on the list as I understand. I - I would just point out that three of the four most heavily forested states in the country are in New England. Maine is first, New Hampshire is second, and Vermont is fourth. Forests are really important to our economy, to the people who work in our state, and to our ecology. And the Bartlett Experimental Research site has been collecting data since nineteen thirty-one. Hubbard Brook since um for over sixty years, I visited Hubbard Brook on Friday. That is research that we can't get back, and it's being done on-site in those locations. So the idea that we can move, pick up and move that research closer to the University of New Hampshire, our land grant school, is just not accurate. And, um, our governor didn't know anything about this. Um, I spoke to her on Saturday evening. She was as concerned as I am. She is going to be contacting you. I would hope that you would take a look at this again, because this is not something that can be replicated out west or at a land-grant university. This is something that has been going on for decades, that is information I mean, at Hubbard Brook, they're the ones who identified acid rain and the impact of acid rain,

Mm.

um, back in the eighties. So there is work here that we just can't reproduce anywhere else that is gonna be lost if these closings happen. So I would just urge you to take another look at this aspect of that reorganization, because it's - it is gonna have a horrific impact on the research about our forests.

I I I will. The short answer of that is I will. Um, all the governors were invited and uh she probably couldn't make it, so but I would be happy to uh brief her and you personally. So let's let's see if we can do that. I will say on the Bartlett, um, there hasn't been staff there in three years and it's got about a two million dollar deferred maintenance.

But I understand that, but there hasn't been staff there. Part of the, and it's true of Hubbard Brook. I understand that you're thinking that any place that has fewer than five

But I'm not sure about Hubbard Brook.

staff people for closure. Hubbard Brook has had more staff, but because of the freezes at the federal level, they haven't been able to fill the openings. It's not that they don't want to or they don't have people who could do it.

Yeah, I just know about Bartlett,

It's just

I'll look specifically into Hubbard Brook though, uh I I'll do that.

The same is true of Bartlett. They were, they would like to hire more people, but they haven't been able to because of the freezes.

Well, they haven't had staff in three years, so that goes before our administration.

And it's a problem with the previous administration too.

Yeah.

Thank you.

That's fair. Thank you.

Madam Secretary, any, if you had any closing comments you wanted to make, uh, before we wrap?

You know, I just appreciate the collegial respectful dialogue. I think that that this is what Americans want. We were not gonna agree on everything and and we're gonna have disagreements, but I'm grateful. I think this is the way that our founders envisioned that we discuss disagreements and and work together where we can. So I'm I'm grateful to you, Senator, for uh, Mister Chairman, for setting that model in here and and you too, Senator Shaheen, thank you, and and really the whole committee. It's it's uh it's uh it's an honor to be here and and explain what we're doing. And I'll continue to work one-on-one with everyone on all of these issues.

We appreciate that, and and thank you for being here. Uh, any questions, uh, need to be submitted by Wednesday. april twenty ninth for the record and we would ask for your response within thirty days and again thanks for being here we're adjourned

great thank you everybody thanks