OMAHA (DTN) -- Facing an incursion of New World screwworm (NWS), high fertilizer prices and lingering trade-tariff issues, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told senators on Wednesday that farmers will benefit from trade deals reached by President Donald Trump.

At the same time, USDA needs more authority than the current $30 billion under the Commodity Credit Corp. (CCC) to fund farmer support programs, Rollins said.

Rollins testified Wednesday before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., asked Rollins about comments Trump made last week, indicating there might be more aid needed for farmers. Boozman pointed to efforts to pass a supplemental funding bill "in the very near future" that could include more aid.

"He said at the event on Friday that he wanted to do more," Rollins said, "and so I think we can work arm-in-arm and hand-in-hand across hopefully both sides of the aisle and get to another point where that is possible and feasible for our farmers."

Rollins repeated, though, that USDA needs more funding authority under the CCC than the annual $30 billion limit. She noted that if the CCC limit had been tied to inflation when the fund was created, it would be $90 billion now. CCC dollars will be stretched because the fund will need to pay for higher Agricultural Risk Coverage/Price Loss Coverage payments to farmers this fall and higher payouts for crop insurance changes, both tied to increases in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.

"We're really stretched right now on the CCC," Rollins said.

NEW WORLD SCREWWORM

With six cases of NWS found in Texas and New Mexico during the past week, Republicans sought to blame the Biden administration, while Democrats questioned staff and funding cuts at agencies responsible for monitoring foreign animal disease risks.

Rollins also criticized the Biden administration for not increasing the production of sterile flies when NWS broke through the Darien Gap -- a stretch of rainforest in Panama and Colombia -- in 2023. For decades, NWS had been contained south of the gap, partially due to a U.S. sterile fly facility in Panama.

"Why did no one do anything until we walked in the door last year?" Rollins asked.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., agreed with Rollins that immigration policies under the Biden administration were a likely source for the infestation. Marshall said in the hearing that he recalled seeing immigrants at the border with open sore wounds.

While NWS crossed Panama in 2023, the pest didn't reach southern Mexico until November 2024, and the Biden administration immediately closed the border to Mexican livestock. At that point, NWS was confirmed in Mexican cattle roughly 1,100 miles south of the U.S. border. USDA then announced in December 2024 that the department would use $165 million to increase surveillance and "establish a barrier" to eradicate the fly.

Still, the fly continued to advance northward in 2025.

USDA under Rollins agreed in February 2025 to resume cattle and bison imports from Mexico, but Rollins reversed that decision in May 2025 when an infested animal was confirmed about 700 miles from the U.S. border. Rollins at that time also announced plans to build a new $750 million sterile fly production facility under construction in Texas that will boost sterile fly production.

Rollins said new technology will allow USDA to produce only sterile male flies, which will also boost containment efforts.

"We've got to get more sterile flies in the air, and that just takes time," Rollins said.

Rollins rejected the notion that job cuts at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) had slowed USDA's response to NWS. Rollins instead said she had increased the number of APHIS staff dealing with the screwworm from 10 people to more than 100. She also credited Trump for approving more than $1.3 billion to spend on the NWS response.

TRADE OVER AID

To counter Democratic criticism over Trump's tariffs and high fertilizer prices tied to the war in Iran, Rollins pointed to 19 new trade deals reached by the administration. She said that those trade deals have led to the agricultural trade deficit being cut in half.

At the same time, some trade deals have been inked, while others are frameworks that have not been finalized.

Agricultural exports are up 6% for the first four months of 2026, or about $3.2 billion, but that follows a year in which U.S. agricultural exports also fell by $5 billion, according to USDA figures. The trade deficit has fallen in 2026, mainly because agricultural imports in the first four months of the year are down 12%, or $9 billion.

Still, Rollins pointed to the trade deals as "already paying dividends" and pointed to higher exports of corn, dairy, sorghum, ethanol and wheat, among other commodities.

"This is what farmers want. They don't want a check from the government. They want to be able to sell their goods on an open market that's fair," Rollins said.

BUY AMERICAN COTTON ACT

Southern senators such as Boozman and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., sought support from Rollins for the Buy American Cotton Act, which they say is needed to help spark a resurgence for cotton producers.

Hyde-Smith said the number of cotton gins in her state has been cut in half since 2000. "When gins disappear, jobs disappear and the communities in rural areas, they have very few options," Hyde-Smith said.

Rollins said a "cotton renaissance" is coming as consumers are interested in products such as cotton sheets to start reducing the risks from synthetic microfibers.

CRP HAYING AND GRAZING

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., talked about wildfires in Kansas, saying Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres are partially to blame for the spread of fires because vegetation on those acres grows when rains are good but then quickly becomes wildfire fuel during droughts. Moran said he and others on the committee are talking about providing more flexibility for haying and grazing CRP ground.

"CRP ground at least needs to be grazed to keep it from becoming the source of the fire that kills the cattle or that destroys their feed," Moran said.

Rollins agreed. "When you are looking at trying to rebuild the herd, then we need that land to get more cattle on it."

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., also agreed that cattle producers have raised similar issues about needing grazing allotments, but they are facing drought conditions.

POULTRY PAYMENT RULE

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, put Rollins on the spot by asking her why USDA delayed the start date for the "Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems" rule, which reforms the poultry industry's tournament payment system and ensures poultry growers don't face high demands for barn improvements by poultry processing companies. USDA delayed the start of the rule until the end of 2027, when it had been set to go into effect on July 1.

Rollins said the rule was suspended because it was finalized by the Biden administration. "I do know there are some real concerns about the way the Biden team wrote the rule," she said.

Grassley countered, "How does that help the small family farmer?" He also pointed out that out of 2,500 comments on the rule, just a handful support the delay, and those were companies or trade groups tied to major chicken processors. "The real poultry growers and poultry organizations oppose this proposal."

See other related coverage:

-- "Trump Raises Doubts About USMCA, But Ag Groups Say Trade Deal Is Vital," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- "Move or Leave: USDA Employees Hit With Relocation Orders Across Agencies," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

For more DTN coverage of the New World screwworm threat and the response by the government and livestock industry, visit our Spotlight on New World Screwworm page at https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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