U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins addresses a press conference at the Pa. Farm Show on Jan. 15, 2026 (Photo by Ian Karbal/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins sought to reassure farmers facing a litany of challenges during a visit to the Pennsylvania Farm Show on Thursday.
“The farm show is an important reminder that we can not make America great again without making agriculture great again,” Rollins said. “We will never forget that, and certainly President Trump has put that at the top of his list.”
In 2025, farmers across America faced a combination of issues, like the fallout from trade wars impacting exports, a severe bird flu outbreak, unpredictable weather and rising equipment and fertilizer costs.
Rollins said the Trump administration is implementing policies that will benefit farmers across the country, though it will take some time for their effects to be felt.
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They include raising crop reference prices, expanding farmer safety nets, cutting taxes and raising possible deductions — all provisions of President Donald Trump’s signature domestic spending bill that was signed last summer.
But as farmers wait to feel the positive impacts, Rollins said, her agency is supplementing the agriculture industry across the country with $12 billion in what she called, “bridge payments.” Farmers will begin to receive the federal funds in February.
“We’re opening up the markets, but we’re also providing the bridge payments to make sure farmers can get to what we believe will be the golden age for agriculture,” Rollins said.
One area of policy Rollins focused on was trade. She said trade deals with dozens of nations made by Trump will benefit farmers who export their crops.
“While we’re looking at exporting a lot more, under the prior administration exports really slowed down,” Rollins said. “We’ll have a significant number of announcements of new trade deals with additional countries for agriculture coming in the next few weeks to months.”
However, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paints a more complicated picture than its secretary laid out.
U.S. Agriculture exports reached record highs in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, according to USDA data. Total exports declined in 2023 and 2024, but remained higher than during the first Trump administration, However, exports are estimated to have gone up slightly in 2025 over the previous year.
The U.S. agricultural trade deficit, however, did decline sharply under the Biden administration, following a trend that began in 2019 while Trump was still in the White House. The deficit is estimated to have risen further in 2025.
That’s due in part to disruptions in global trade caused by the administration’s tariff regime, a strong dollar making American goods more expensive for foreign buyers, as well as a high levels of imports.
Rollins also praised Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-15) for sponsoring a bill signed into law allowing whole milk in American schools.
“It really builds on the dietary guidelines that we released the week before,” Rollins said. “My partner in all that is Secretary Bobby Kennedy over at HHS, flipping the food pyramid to put real food back at the center of everything Americans do regarding our food supply system.”
Thompson, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, joined Rollins at the Farm Show. He said the change will be a boon for dairy farmers.
“Dairy is the backbone of Pennsylvania’s ag industry,” he said. “It’s really important for rural economies. Anybody that watched that, when they took whole milk and 2% milk flavor out of our schools, we soon lost dairy farmers, and we lost a generation of milk drinkers.”
Rollins and Thompson were joined by Pennsylvania Reps. Dan Meuser (R-09) and Scott Perry (R-10), USDA National Nutrition Advisor Ben Carson, and Pennsylvania Treasurer and Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity.
