BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. — Agriculture policy in the second Trump Administration is going to be “more White House-policy centric,” a key Agriculture Department adviser in the first Trump Administration told the Crop Insurance Industry Convention here on Monday. 

Agencies will be able to establish some policies “independently,” but agriculture secretary nominee Brooke Rollins, the as-yet-unnamed Risk Management Agency administrator, and other officials “are going to have to go to bat with OMB [the Office of Management and Budget] and the White House,” said Rebeckah Adcock, a senior adviser to former Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, during a discussion with other former USDA appointees from the first Trump Administration. 

OMB is going to be “the linchpin” in policymaking, said Adcock, who is now the vice president for U.S. government relations at the International Fresh Produce Association. 

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Ken Barbic, who was assistant secretary for congressional relations, noted that Ray Starling, who was the White House adviser on food and agriculture in the first Trump administration, played a key role in making sure that agriculture’s voice was at the table. Barbic, who is now a principal at the Food and Agriculture Practice Group at Invariant, noted that no one has been hired for that White House job yet, and urged the crop insurers and agents to develop a relationship with whoever is chosen.  

Barbic called Perdue the “OG of DOGE,” referring to the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency that is being headed by Elon Musk, the tech executive and adviser to Trump who plans to go through every federal agency to make it more lean and efficient. 

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Barbic explained he was referring to Perdue’s establishment of business centers within USDA to improve management.

CUSTOMER ORIENTED

Joby Young, who was chief of staff to Perdue, recalled that Perdue wanted USDA to be efficient, effective and customer-oriented. Young, now the executive vice president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said agriculture benefited from Perdue’s relationship with Trump. He noted there were times when Trump was holding a meeting in the White House and would call Perdue at USDA to ask his opinion. 

Young added he is “encouraged” that Rollins, who worked for Trump in the White House in the first term, already has a relationship with him and that the Senate Agriculture Committee voted unanimously to advance her nomination to the Senate floor.

Discussing the congressional mandate to send out the payments to farmers from the $10 billion emergency fund established in the end of 2024 funding package by March 20, Adcock said that will require writing rules, but that OMB “has the final signoff.” 

The panel noted that even though Rollins is not expected to be confirmed until this week, the Trump administration is moving much faster than in the first term. “They had four years to sit and plan and vet people,” Adcock said. 

TARIFFS

On the issue of tariffs that might lead other countries to retaliate by reducing U.S. agricultural imports, Adcock said she believes administration officials will be “sensitive” to the fact that farm country supported Trump.

Rollins said at her confirmation hearing that if there are negative impacts on farm income from the tariffs, she expects to use the Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA’s line of credit at the Treasury, as Perdue did to make payments to farmers. 

Barbic noted that Trump has named Ralph Linden to be principal deputy general counsel at USDA, and called him “the legal expert on the CCC.””

But Barbic said it’s impossible to determine what action USDA might take until the tariffs are in place. He noted that USDA did not develop the trade aid policy until after other countries retaliated. 

USDA made about $23 billion in trade aid payments to farmers during the first Trump administration. There have been reports that there is only $4 billion in the account now, and that Congress is not scheduled to replenish it until later in the year. 

But Barbic said it’s difficult to say exactly how much is available in the CCC at any one time because the CCC “is like a revolving credit card. Money comes in, money goes out.” But he noted the availability of funds will determine whether the secretary can act at any particular time. 

Adcock added that CCC programs are not designed to “make whole people” but to help them through rough times. She also noted that it is harder to design programs to help fruit and vegetable producers than row crop farmers because information about produce is relayed differently than through row crop markets. 

Adcock described the Trump administration as “deadly serious about regulatory reform.” In the last administration, each time a new regulation was promulgated officials were supposed to take down two regulations, but this time they are supposed to take down 10 regulations for every new one that is written.

HHS

On the prospect of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becoming Health and Human Services secretary and the statements he has made in the past about agriculture, particularly pesticides, Barbic said the expectation is that Kennedy will defer to USDA on matters related directly to agriculture. 

Adcock noted that Kennedy had made some of his past statements in the role of trial attorney and that a focus on health “offers an opportunity for all of agriculture.”

Barbic also said he believes there are going to be opportunities “for win-wins for public health and farmers. There could be opportunities for shared wins.”

There has been a lot of talk at the conference about educating new members of Congress, but Barbic said it is also important to educate newly appointed USDA officials because USDA covers such a broad range of issues. When he joined the Trump administration, Barbic said, “there were issues I’d never heard of.”

Young urged the attendees not to make a public statement about a policy they don’t like until they have met with officials. 

Adcock concluded that the Trump administration takes “an un-Washington way of doing business.” She noted that half of Americans had said in the election that “doing something differently could be a better way.”