Rollins unveils National Farm Security Action Plan
On July 8, United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced a new installment of the Make Agriculture Great Again initiative, called the USDA’s National Farm Security Action Plan. With U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem standing behind her, Rollins explained why agricultural security is vital to America’s success and why farm security is national security.
“We feed the world. We lead the world. And we’ll never let foreign adversaries control our land, our labs, or our livelihoods,” Rollins said. ”This action plan puts America’s farmers, families, and future first—exactly where they belong. Under President Trump’s leadership, American agriculture will be strong, secure, and resilient. He will never stop fighting for our farmers and our ranchers.”
According to the USDA’s press release on the NFSAP, protecting the homeland starts with protecting agricultural land and safeguarding the food supply, strengthening infrastructure and defending against foreign adversaries. According to Rollins, America’s enemies are playing the long game—infiltrating research, buying U.S. farmland, stealing technology and launching cyberattacks on food systems.
The press release highlighted a recent threat that included a Chinese Communist Party member, who was charged with smuggling a noxious fungus into the U.S. The suspicious material was a potential agroterrorism weapon that could have led to billions in global crop losses if the plot had been successful.
“The Department of Justice will continue working to prosecute those who threaten American agriculture, investigate cases of potential agro-terrorism, and protect America’s farmers from illegal threats at home and abroad,” Bondi said.
Seven areas of action
During the press conference, Rollins revealed the seven areas of “aggressive” action the USDA plans to take under the NFSAP. The first
bullet point on the agenda is to secure and protect American farmland. To accomplish this, Rollins said the USDA will need to address U.S. foreign farmland ownership from adversaries, which will mean transparency and tougher penalties. Rollins said this is perhaps the most important of the seven areas of action.
“Too much American land is owned by nationals of adversarial countries, and more than 265,000 acres in the United States are owned by Chinese nationals, much of which is located near critical U.S. military bases,” Rollins said.
The top five states with the largest Chinese holdings are Texas with 162,167 acres; North Carolina with 44,776 acres; Missouri with 43,071 acres; Utah with 32,447 acres and Virginia with 14,382 acres.
The second area of action Rollins detailed was to enhance agricultural supply chain resilience. This will require refocusing domestic investment into key manufacturing sectors and identifying non-adversarial partners to work with when domestic production is not available. She said it will be imperative to plan contingencies.
The next action point on Rollins list is to protect the U.S. nutrition safety net from fraud and foreign exploitation. Fourth on the USDA’s agenda is to defend agricultural research and innovation.
“No more sweetheart deals and secret pacts with countries that do not have our best interests in mind,” Rollins said at the press conference.
Another point of the action plan is to put America first in every USDA program.
“We have already canceled seven active agreements with entities in foreign countries of concern and will continue to cancel additional agreements moving forward,” Rollins said.
Sixth on Rollin’s list is to safeguard plant and animal health by cracking down on bio-threats before they ever reach U.S. soil. Finally, Rollins said the USDA plans to protect critical infrastructure as the seventh point in the plan. According to Rollins, farms, food and supply chains are national security assets.
Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].
