During this week's confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump's pick to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Brooke Rollins, U.S. Sen. Tomy Tuberville (R-Auburn) pressed Brooke on advancing American agriculture, especially Alabama.
Lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry questioned Rollins about possibly taking over as USDA secretary. Questions ranged from illegal immigration to trade wars to foreign trade with Trump's proposed tariffs. Thursday's hearing was the least hostile of the hearings held thus far for Trump's nominees.
During his time on the committee, Tuberville has been extremely vocal about his concerns about America's food supply and farming industry. He recently filed a bill preventing foreign adversaries like China from purchasing American farmland.
"We're in trouble," Tuberville said. "Our farmers are in trouble. Small farmers selling right and left. I've got a bill on the floor, actually I dropped it yesterday, about keeping foreign adversaries from buying our farmland. We're selling it right and left. But I don't blame them because they can't make a profit."
He continued, "Row croppers in my state of Alabama are really getting killed. Cotton farmers last year—the input cost was about $400 an acre. They might have got $100 an acre out of their crop last year. That's the reason we had to do a supplemental right before Christmas. My phone was ringing off the wall. We have got to help our farmers, but they hate handouts. I'll tell you that right now—they hate it because they want to do their own work. So I'm glad you understand that—being from Texas, you understand it."
Tuberville asked Rollins if she would commit to helping the Trump administration get a better price for American farmers' crops. She responded with a resounding yes, claiming farmers' current level of income is unsustainable.
"I read recently that only 43% of our ag producers are net-income positive," Rollins replied. "That is unsustainable. We have to find a better way and it can't come always through government subsidies. We've got to expand the market, we've got to figure out input costs. One of President Trump's top priorities was food inflation. Well, this comes before food inflation because this itself will drive the cost of food down if we do our jobs and if we're able to produce for our ag community the way that, Coach, I believe that we can working together."
Tuberville also pressed Rollins on federal disaster relief. Not only does Alabama occasionally suffer from natural disasters, but the Biden administration's handling of California wildfires and the hurricanes that hit Florida and North Carolina late last year was a frequent criticism for GOP leadership in the November presidential campaign.
"If we've had problems with tornadoes or floods or whatever in my state, it takes at least three years at times to get any kind of disaster relief," Tuberville said. "Three years. And you know as well as I do, farmers borrow money from banks for a crop, and those bankers are looking around going, 'Where's our money?' 'Well, we're waiting for disaster relief.' The bankers shouldn't have to deal with that, nor should the farmers. But I think there has to be a better plan for that at the end of the day. And again, I'm throwing all your problems out to you, [you] probably don't want to hear that, but we got a lot of problems that need to be fixed."
Rollins responded that she and Trump had already discussed the delayed federal disaster relief and were committed to addressing the problem.
"I believe that you and I have had a conversation with our Commander in Chief, and the fact that it is taking three years to get relief will be unacceptable to him," she explained. "It is unacceptable to me, and I look forward to working with you to ensure that we do better—much, much better than that."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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