In Kansas City, Secretary Rollins Speaks on State of Farm Economy, Announces Suite of Actions to Support American Farmers

(Kansas City, MO, September 25, 2025) - Today, in Kansas City at the Agriculture Outlook Forum, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins spoke on the current state of the farm economy in the United States and addressed the ways President Trump is supporting American agriculture. U.S. farm production inputs are significantly more costly than four years ago, putting pressure on farmers' bottom line. Between 2020 and now, seed expenses have increased 18%, fuel and oil expenses increased 32%, fertilizer expenses increased 37%, and interest expenses increased by a whopping 73%.

In order to understand why these critical inputs are persistently elevated, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Justice signed a Memorandum of Understanding that represents a joint commitment by both agencies to protect American farmers and ranchers from the burdens imposed by high and volatile input costs -such as feed, fertilizer, fuel, seed, equipment, and other essential goods-while ensuring competitive supply chains, lower consumer prices, and the resilience of U.S. agriculture and the food supply. The Antitrust Division of DOJ will work hand in hand with USDA - effective immediately - to take a hard look and scrutinize competitive conditions in the agricultural marketplace, including antitrust enforcement that promotes free market competition.

Additionally, labor costs increased 47% since 2020. This increase is driven largely by the high cost of utilizing the H-2A program to secure seasonal labor, specifically the artificially inflated Adverse Effect Wage Rates set by the Department of Labor using USDA data. The USDA Farm Labor Survey was never designed to be used for setting government-mandated wage rates and is duplicative of other DOL data sources. USDA has discontinued this survey. USDA is working daily with the Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security to build out regulatory changes that can make the H-2A program more affordable and more accessible for American agriculture.

"President Trump has made it clear: America's farmers and ranchers will never be left behind. The success of our farmers is a national security priority, and at USDA we are looking at every option to ensure the future viability of American agriculture. The last Administration's policies drove up inflation and ignored the needs of farmers and ranchers while not opening new markets abroad. The cost of doing business for farmers and ranchers increased drastically, and commodity prices slumped. The Trump Administration is holding these companies accountable and will investigate why input prices have not come back down," said Secretary Brooke Rollins. "Relief is already reaching farms and ranches, but more help is still needed. ECAP payments, combined with our international food assistance purchases, help producers navigate market volatility, pay down debt for the 2024 crop year, and move American grown commodities to people in need in countries around the world. American farmers produce the most nutritious, safe, and high-value food in the world, and USDA is proud to stand with them at home and abroad."

Expanding Markets

The One Big Beautiful Bill provided an additional $285 million each year in agricultural trade promotion and facilitation to help American agriculture expand markets overseas. While this funding does not kick in until next year, USDA repurposing Biden-era funding to kickstart this program one year early, with $285 million on October 2nd of this year launching the America First Trade Promotion Program to expand market opportunities for American agricultural products.

Emergency Assistance for Farmers

After expediting emergency aid payments of more than $8 billion to over 560,000 farmers since March, Secretary Rollins today released the $2 billion in remaining funding for the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) and announced the purchase of more than 417,000 metric tons of American grown commodities to support international food assistance programs. Together, these actions represent billions in support of American producers, helping them weather economic uncertainty at home while expanding markets for U.S. agriculture abroad.

International Food Assistance Purchases

At the same time, USDA is investing $480 million to purchase commodities from American farmers for international food assistance programs, including McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition and Food for Progress. These purchases will provide critical school meals and nutrition projects in countries such as Benin, Honduras, Mozambique, Pakistan, and Senegal, while also removing trade barriers and ensuring market access for U.S. agricultural exports in countries including Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Nepal.

USDA is providing $240 million to purchase U.S. commodities for six McGovern-Dole projects, which will utilize 56,170 metric tons of U.S.-grown food - a 50 percent increase from 2024. Food for Progress implementing partners will receive $240 million to sell 361,000 metric tons of U.S. commodities abroad, a 12 percent increase from 2024, with proceeds reinvested to build markets for American agriculture.

USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service will publish details of the fiscal year 2025 McGovern-Dole and Food for Progress funding allocations once all contracts are finalized.

ECAP Payments and Supplemental Disaster Assistance

Of the $10 billion authorized under ECAP, USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) has already delivered over $8 billion to eligible producers to offset higher input costs and falling commodity prices. Today, USDA is releasing the remaining ECAP funding that will be delivered to approved producers within the week, bringing the final payment factor to 99 percent. ECAP payments are based on planted and prevented planted crop acres for eligible commodities in the 2024 crop year and are issued automatically to producers with approved applications.

In addition to ECAP, USDA has provided more than $2 billion through two rounds of Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) assistance to livestock producers impacted by drought and wildfires, and floods. Producers have also received over $5.5 billion through Stage 1 of the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, with Stage 2 assistance to be announced in October.

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