Part 2: Rollins Faces New Questions on USDA Reorganization, Research, Disaster Aid and Farm Service Staffing
Lawmakers pressed Rollins on agency restructuring, local office capacity, avian flu, specialty crop payments, Black farmer contracts, disaster declarations and rural development programs
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ House Ag Committee appearance extended beyond the sharp clashes over farm losses, fertilizer, trade, SNAP, cotton, glyphosate and New World Screwworm detailed in our previous report (link). Lawmakers also used the hearing to press Rollins on USDA’s internal reorganization, field office staffing, frozen or delayed grants, agricultural research, rural development, disaster declarations and whether the department is maintaining trust with producers who depend on federal programs.
•USDA reorganization and field staffing draw scrutiny. Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) challenged USDA’s plan to shift operations into regional hubs, arguing that California — the nation’s largest agricultural state — was being overlooked. Costa said farmers and farm groups visiting Washington often need to meet not only with USDA but also with trade, Interior and members of Congress, warning that a hub model could become “a runaround.”
Rollins defended the restructuring, saying headquarters would remain in Washington and that USDA was moving functions closer to farm country. She said she was open to evaluating whether California should be considered for a hub. “I would be very welcome to that,” Rollins said, adding that USDA had already adjusted parts of the plan based on feedback.
Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) pressed Rollins on the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services mission area, saying Democrats had asked for details about the reorganization and warning that FNS had lost nearly 30% of its workforce since the start of the administration. Hayes said the public deserved answers “in full public view,” particularly on how USDA would maintain regional expertise and relationships with state agencies.
Rollins said no food aid had been compromised and no employees had been cut as part of that reorganization. “This is really an effort to get closer to the people that we serve and out of the Washington, D.C. area,” she said.
• FSA and NRCS service levels become a recurring concern. Several Democrats said producers were hearing slower responses from local USDA offices. Rep. Gabriel Vasquez (D-N.M.) said farmers, ranchers, food banks, researchers and dairy producers in his state were worried that FSA and NRCS offices were “already stretched thin,” making it harder to access contracts, disaster assistance, conservation programs and technical support.
Rollins said she was in regular contact with New Mexico officials and would address specific staffing concerns office by office. She also noted Forest Service staffing in New Mexico, saying USDA was near full hiring for wildfire season.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) raised similar concerns about FSA capacity but credited Rollins for saying FSA offices were not closing. Rollins said local service centers would remain central to USDA’s producer outreach, even as the department expands digital tools. She pointed to the “One Farmer, One File” initiative, saying USDA moved payments to tens of thousands of farmers within days through the new system. But she acknowledged that technology “will never take the place of the FSA offices.”
• REAP grants and frozen funding complaints surface. Budzinski also questioned Rollins about Rural Energy for America Program grants, saying Illinois farmers and rural small businesses had applied in good faith, completed projects and were now “in limbo” over reimbursement.
Rollins said USDA was reviewing programs to ensure funds were being spent properly, while also trying to move legitimate payments forward. The exchange underscored one of the broader Democratic complaints of the hearing: even when USDA says it is reviewing spending for efficiency or compliance, producers and rural businesses can experience those reviews as frozen funding.
•Agricultural research and land-grant partnerships get Republican support. Rep. James Baird (R-Ind.) praised USDA research partnerships with Purdue University and asked Rollins to discuss the role of land-grant universities, extension, crop science, precision agriculture and workforce development.
Rollins said USDA’s research mission was a major reason for the reorganization, arguing many federal researchers would rather be closer to universities and agricultural production regions than based in Washington. She said land-grant partnerships would be central to USDA’s research strategy and described agricultural research as critical to productivity, resilience and competitiveness.
•Avian flu and egg prices featured in Rollins’ defense of USDA performance. Rollins used her opening statement to highlight USDA’s avian flu response, saying one of her first major actions was a $1 billion plan to combat HPAI and rising egg prices. She said the plan had worked, claiming wholesale egg prices had dropped more than 90% since last year, commercial poultry and turkey cases were down 61%, and the number of infected birds had fallen by nearly half.
She framed those numbers as evidence that USDA could move quickly when animal health threats collide with consumer prices. The issue did not generate the same conflict as SNAP or glyphosate but was part of Rollins’ broader argument that USDA had delivered measurable results.
•Dietary guidelines and MAHA broaden beyond food. Rollins said USDA’s work with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Make America Healthy Again would lead to a major “reset” of federal nutrition policy. She said the new dietary guidelines would be “science-based” and designed to put farmers and ranchers at the center of U.S. nutrition policy.
Rollins also broadened MAHA beyond food, tying it to cotton and natural fibers. In discussing cotton, she said MAHA was not only about “what we’re eating” but also “what we wear,” repeating her line: “Plants, not plastics. America, not Brazil.”
•Food for Peace transition gets attention. Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) asked about the Food for Peace program and his proposal to move it back to USDA. Rollins said USDA was proud to administer the program temporarily while Congress works on a long-term solution, arguing the transition had continued without compromising the program.
She said USDA was operating the program with far fewer employees than when it was housed at the State Department, presenting it as an example of the administration’s broader effort to reduce bureaucracy while maintaining services.
• Disaster declarations become a major regional concern. Several lawmakers pressed Rollins on disaster aid. Rep. Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) asked about an April frost that damaged apple production in New York, including an 11th- and 12th-generation family farm that could lose half its crop. Rollins committed to working on New York’s disaster designation. “One hundred percent yes,” she said.
Rep. John Mannion (D-N.Y.) also raised New York’s frost damage, noting the state is the nation’s No. 2 apple producer and that apple and grape losses were estimated above $30 million.
Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) asked Rollins to commit to moving quickly on a Virginia disaster designation tied to weather and input-cost shocks. Rollins said USDA had already reached back out to the governor’s office to begin collecting data and promised to move “as quickly as humanly possible.”
Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.) raised Maryland crop losses, including peaches, barley and grapes, and contrasted denied FEMA aid for Maryland with aid granted nearby in West Virginia. Rollins said USDA would evaluate the state’s request based on the data.
•Black farmer contracts and USDA trust issues raised. Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) focused on Black farmers and USDA’s history of discrimination, saying the issue was about “trust,” “capital” and whether the country would “harvest the full potential of all of its people.” Jackson said Black farmers had been denied loans, delayed assistance and lost land and wealth over generations.
He questioned canceled USDA contracts and grants, saying some farmers had made business decisions based on commitments from the government and were now facing litigation costs on top of fuel, fertilizer and food expenses. Jackson asked what could be done to restore grants that had already been approved.
Rollins responded that she was willing to work with him and said she understood the importance of restoring trust, though the broader exchange reflected ongoing tension over DOGE-related cancellations and equity-focused USDA programs.
•Foreign farmland and farm security remain part of Rollins’ national security message. Rollins also highlighted USDA’s National Farm Security Action Plan, saying agriculture had been integrated into the national security strategy “for the first time ever.” She said the plan treats farmland ownership, animal disease defense and food supply chains as national security issues.
That theme surfaced in other exchanges on foreign ownership, solar development and data. Rollins repeatedly returned to the phrase that “farm security is national security,” using it to link issues as different as fertilizer dependence, foreign farmland, animal disease and domestic food production capacity.
•Dairy data and checkoff concerns surface. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) raised concerns from dairy producers about proprietary operational data being required by processors and third parties. He warned that farmers may not know where that data goes, who has access to it or whether it is being sold.
Rollins agreed it was a serious issue, especially for smaller dairy operations. She said producers are being required to provide detailed information about feed, cattle and manure management in the name of climate reporting, and that USDA is looking at the problem.
•Solar development on farmland draws pushback. Riley also raised concerns about a proposed large solar project in Copake, New York, warning that farmland could be covered with panels tied to an out-of-state developer. The exchange fit into a broader theme from the hearing: lawmakers are increasingly tying farmland preservation not only to production but also to energy development, foreign supply chains and rural community control.
Rollins said she shared concerns about preserving farmland and protecting producers from policies that make it harder to keep land in agriculture.
Bottom line: The additional hearing topics showed that Rollins’ appearance was not only a fight over SNAP, trade, fertilizer, cotton and glyphosate. Lawmakers also pressed USDA on whether its own machinery is functioning: local office staffing, grant reimbursements, research capacity, disaster response, rural development, food aid administration and trust with historically underserved producers. Rollins defended the department’s direction, arguing that reorganization, technology, research partnerships and national security planning will make USDA more effective. Democrats countered that producers are feeling delays, uncertainty and funding disruptions now — and that USDA’s promises will be judged by whether farmers can actually reach offices, receive payments, access programs and survive another difficult crop year.
