During a House Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins about what reassurances she could provide farmers in Louisiana.
00:00And thank you, Madam Secretary, for being here today.
00:03It is encouraging to see someone with your background sitting in that chair and your leadership.
00:09And I would just like to give you some kudos because you recently just named as FSA director for Louisiana, Craig McCain.
00:17It took you three months to do that.
00:19The last administration, we didn't have an FSA director for over a year and a half.
00:24Wow.
00:25I'll let the team know.
00:26Thank you for that, Congresswoman.
00:27It means a lot to our farmers.
00:29And I'd like to also give you kudos for ECAP to get that funding to our small farmers.
00:35I had a small farmer call me last night and say because that money came in so quickly that it saved his farm.
00:42He was able to get the funding that he needed and the credit that he needed to be able to plant again.
00:47He was a small farmer.
00:49It saved his farm because of your leadership.
00:52Also, I want to thank you for continuing to spread your message across the country.
01:00And I know you haven't made it to Louisiana yet.
01:02We are so excited to have you there to deliver your keynote speech and your vision for what agriculture will look like through USDA and how we will partner together in Congress and work together to deliver for our farmers.
01:16So my first question is an absolute softball question to you.
01:20But if in the meantime, I can share with those concerned farmers who had to endure the great pause, as you call it, and have had a really rough last four years, what can you share with them right now that I can go back and also tell them until you make it to Louisiana to deliver those keynote addresses?
01:40Well, thank you for that.
01:41And thank you for the shout out to the team.
01:43I get too much credit.
01:44I think they have been, a lot of them sitting behind me have just been extraordinary.
01:48So I so appreciate that.
01:49It has been a seven-day-a-week, 18, 20-hour-a-day effort for a couple of months.
01:54What I would say is this, that the American agriculture economy is suffering perhaps like never before with a $50 billion trade deficit just over the last four years, likely to reach $63 billion based on numbers from last year very quickly.
02:08Number two, the cost of inputs increased 30% during the great pause under the last administration, 30%.
02:15So while our farmers and our ranchers are facing margins of profitability of almost zero, many of them, like never before, while being hit with trade deficits, while being hit with the cost of inputs, while being hit with, frankly, an administration that didn't fight for them, not just the big farmers, but the small family farms too.
02:33And that's such a big priority of mine, but help has arrived as we look at cutting taxes and deregulating and opening up markets and realigning the trade regime around the world to not just allow American products to participate, but for American products to win.
02:49I believe that American agriculture is moving into an era of prosperity unlike they've seen in our lifetimes.
02:56That is my fervent hope, prayer, and work every day toward.
03:00You can feel it.
03:00I will share that with them for sure.
03:02I have one last follow-up question.
03:04You know, during the last administration, I repeatedly raised concerns both in hearings and in discussions with the USDA officials about how existing disaster programs,
03:13like the 22 Emergency Relief Program and other RMA products, have failed to adequately capture quality losses for my farmers.
03:21Despite Congress clearly stating that quality losses of crops should be covered, many producers in my district saw little to no relief under past assistance for programs.
03:30Under the first Trump administration, the USDA worked with our farmers to create the Quality Loss Adjustment Program, and it delivered meaningful assistance where ERP fell short.
03:40Madam Secretary, is the USDA currently considering rebooting the Quality Loss Adjustment Program under the upcoming round of assistance?
03:47And if not, what alternative methodologies are you considering to ensure that quality losses are accurately captured in this next phase of assistance?
03:55Yes, we are looking at that very closely and would love your help.
03:58And specifically, and this is true for everybody, any farmers or ranchers in your district, send us their stories of too much paperwork, of too much regulation, of too much slow, whatever it is.
04:10We can't make change without fully understanding the challenges, but we would love to work with you and your team on that.
04:16Absolutely. I'll send you a story of soybeans over the last couple of years.
04:20It was pretty rough, but I look forward to working with you.
