Nebraska farmers, ranchers talk to Trump ag secretary about tough times

Yahoo

09-08-2025

Members of Nebraska's congressional delegation tour a University of Nebraska-Lincoln-managed feedlot in Saunders County with Trump Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Aug. 9, 2025. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
ITHACA, Nebraska — President Donald Trump's ag secretary visited Nebraska after a Saturday storm and faced questions from farmers about some dark skies facing agriculture, including a few clouds some said the administration stirred.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins heard about tariffs and trade in a closed-press roundtable at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center.
Rollins got an inkling of the economic disruption of on-again, off-again, on-again tariffs with trade partners for Nebraska agriculture, including Mexico and Canada, attendees said.
She also heard some thanks from local producers for the Trump administration's progress toward trade expansion into major markets, such as Japan, South Korea and Australia.
U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., arranged the Saturday discussion and visit to a place where UNL shows farmers and ranchers how to apply the research from Lincoln to boost farm and ranch hauls.
She was joined by Nebraska U.S. Reps. Don Bacon, a member of the House Ag Committee, Rep. Mike Flood, who leads the House Main Street Caucus, and Rep. Adrian Smith, from the Ways and Means Committee.
The four from Nebraska's five-member, all-GOP delegation emphasized the help and benefits coming Nebraska's way from the tax and spending cuts bill they recently passed. The fifth, U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., told Fischer he had a scheduling conflict.
Fischer, whose family operates a cattle ranch near Valentine, talked about the importance of providing tax certainty for planning at a time of increasing costs for ag inputs.
National statistics indicate that Nebraska and neighboring Iowa lost more than 6% of their gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2025, the worst declines nationally, led by ag.
Row-crop producers face the most difficult economic conditions after years of depressed pricing and now with tariffs added, several producers told the secretary and delegation.
Rollins acknowledged that many growers may need federal help with price supports and affording fertilizer after many of them extended themselves to get through operations in another tough year.
The secretary said that's why it was important — with the farm bill delayed in Congress — that some baseline protections for crop pricing were included in the GOP tax and spending bill Trump has labeled 'big' and 'beautiful.'
'Row croppers have been operating at a loss for a number of years,' Rollins said. 'That's not sustainable.'
She and Fischer said Trump knows the issues facing farmers and ranchers and teased that his administration would act soon to offer some relief, including some help with farm labor.
'There's a lot of risk involved in agriculture,' Fischer said. 'You can't control the weather. When you drove up today, you probably saw some corn that was stripped by the wind.
'That's why these safety nets are so important for crop producers, that they have that.'
Flood, who represents an eastern Nebraska district that includes Lincoln, said he has been talking with growers and bankers who say they need help to reduce the risk of defaulting on loans.
'Corn's at $3.80 a bushel,' Flood said. 'That doesn't pay the bills.'
Bacon, who represents the Omaha area, said that Nebraska needs to get more corn and soybeans 'out the door' and that tariff uncertainty and a new jobs report concern him.
He argued that free trade is his preferred approach, and that it's better for the economy, but he said he understands the president sometimes has to act to address trade imbalances.
Bacon said some producers tell him they will need help, and one of the best ways to help is by expanding the reach of biofuels into aviation fuel and higher ethanol blends in gasoline.
'It's the only way you're going to move enough corn and soybeans,' he said. 'Otherwise you're going to have a depression, and … we're going to see it pretty squarely.'
Bacon, who is not running again for the 2nd Congressional District seat in 2026, said Trump had made enough progress slowing down border traffic that he could announce new visa efforts for ag workers.
The Trump crackdown on migrant workers has left some ag producers with a labor shortage, including in one of Nebraska ag's good-news stories: an increasing number of dairies.
Smith, who represents Nebraska's sprawling, rural 3rd Congressional District, one of the country's most conservative, defended Trump's trying to get fairer deals from other countries.
Feds say Nebraska GDP shrunk more than 6% in early 2025, led by ag
Smith has previously said he is no fan of tariffs, but that he considers them a tool in the president's negotiating toolbox that he has used effectively to wring concessions.
Smith said Trump is dealing with the hand he was dealt. He spent much of the past four years criticizing the Biden administration for letting ag trade languish as a back-burner issue.
People who served in the Biden administration U.S. Department of Agriculture have argued they prioritized trade. But Smith said more could and should have been done, as evidenced by a new deal with the United Kingdom.
He told Rollins he appreciated her 'bringing attention to the challenges facing agriculture.' Bacon stressed that even in urban Omaha, one in three jobs are tied to agriculture.
Fischer and Flood stressed the importance of the federal government and USDA continuing to invest in ag research at land-grant universities like UNL.
Flood said he is working with Fischer to secure the last $60 million needed to get the USDA research facility finished on Lincoln's Nebraska Innovation Campus for 300 USDA researchers.
Rollins toured a UNL-managed feedlot in Saunders County with Derek McLean, dean of the Agricultural Research Division at UNL's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
It was the secretary's second trip to Nebraska and the first leg of a two-stop trip sending her next to the Iowa State Fair to join Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds showing steer in Des Moines.
Said Fischer: 'Our delegation understands the importance of agriculture. We are really, really fortunate to have a secretary like Secretary Rollins. She is easy to reach out to.'
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