Hi, everybody.
Hi.
Great to see y'all. I have a time for just a couple questions. But first let me say,
[Inaudible]
Is this is not an amazing day at the White House when we have the 2025 National Finals Rodeo World Champions from barrel racing to steer wrestling, et cetera. And you know, I've talked to the president quite a bit about this over many years. We have the incredible blessing of having the, you know, the, the College World Series baseball team in. We've had the amazing blessing of the NFL teams and the MLB teams and, and most recently the USA men's hockey team.
But for me as the Secretary of Agriculture, this is my Super Bowl, and I think what they represent is the best of America, the best of American sports, and uh, it's just an amazing blessing to have them in. So, that's why, uh, you see the crew. They're gonna get to go meet the president in just, uh, an hour or so. And, uh, and the chance to just show them around the White House is, is one of my highlights of my time in this office.
So thank you. But yes, we'll take questions.
Um, just to start, are you considering another bailout for farmers who are concerned about the rising price of fertilizer given the war [Inaudible]
Yeah, so I appreciate that question with what's happening in Iran, what that means for specifically nitrogen, urea, which is one of the key components of fertilizer. Our farmers are moving into planting season right now. So, uh, the president is very aware of these challenges and these issues. We are very close to having, uh, an announcement on some solutions on what that looks like.
We're looking at every potential avenue to keep the fertilizer costs down as these farmers are going into planting season. Uh, no big announcements yet, but it is coming. I have been in conversation with the hill on that as they're looking at additional funds for our farmers. So at this point, everything is on the table.
This president is convicted, he is resolute, um, he will stand with our farmers. He knows that it's national security issue and, uh, and, and we're on it. So more to come on that. Thank you.
Just to follow up on that question, the earlier relief package, have the funds hit yet?
Yes, they have. So the earlier relief package, the 12 billion that we announced on December 6th, I believe, in the cabinet room with some of our great farmers from across the country, 11 billion, uh, was for our row croppers. That funding opened about two weeks ago and under our new One Farmer, One File initiative.
So we're able to move money at warp speed compared to what this USDA has been able to move over many, many years, many decades. So very, very proud of that. So yes, I think almost two thirds of that money has moved to that 11 billion. We are very close to now the additional one billion we talked about for specialty crops.
We're, um, finalizing the formulas on that. There will be announcement on that very, very soon.
So just, just to follow up on Michelle's question on, um, the fertilizer and the rising cost of fuel. So is the administration considering a second bailout for farmers?
Everything is on the table. Uh, honestly, the, what we've been talking about in Congress, uh, with the leaders over there, they are hyper focused on that.
Is that the farm bill or is this a [Inaudible]
It's, it, we're looking at all avenues. It could potentially be a much faster, um, path, but again, there are so many moving parts on this. The, um, the, the, the, what's going on around the world obviously is impacting our farmers, but as the president has said, we expect that to resolve itself pretty quickly.
Most of our farmers, not all, have actually purchased their fertilizer for planting season this year, but about 25% have not. So that's why we just need to fully understand the facts at hand. We need to understand what the here is today, what it looks like, but make no mistake, all weekend, all day, we are talking to our farmers, we're understanding where they are in this, and, and we will do everything we can to, to solve for it.
Madam Secretary.
Yes, ma'am.
Just on the timeline there because you mentioned, uh, we're still sort of waiting to hear what happens. I know the president has said this conflict may go for four to five weeks, but if it goes beyond that, how does that affect that 25% of farmers who don't have the fertilizer yet?
Well, again, we're taking it day by day. We will keep watching, um, watching the numbers, watching, understanding what's happening. There's obviously a bigger conversation here. Uh, the president and I have spent a lot of time talking about the cost of inputs for our farmers, how under the last administration, you know, interest rates went up 73%, labor went up 47%, fertilizer went up 36%, and our farmers keep struggling, struggling, struggling.
So there is the short term of what's happening, uh, certainly with the numbers right now and, and nitrogen and urea, which is needed for fertilizer, but there's also a much longer term conversation here where we've got to figure out by fertilizer seed, um, our four big packers, our processors, the Department of Justice is looking into all of those, uh, and, and we will keep doing that.
So, so we're on it. One more. Yes, ma'am.
Secretary Rollins, Congratulations to all your rodeo winners.
Thank you.
Question. Could you have an update on healthy and affordable food that you [Inaudible] here in January, what is that looking at as maybe Americans are concerned about affordability especially prices [Inaudible]
Well, that's right. And clearly what we inherited, and I know you all have heard me talk about this, but I think it's so important. When we left and Trump won, when we walked out of this White House for the last time, not knowing we would be back, we left with an agricultural trade surplus. We came back four years later with a $50 billion agricultural trade deficit.
In four years, Joe Biden did not strike one new trade deal. In the last year, we've had 18 new trade deals thanks to President Trump that obviously supports our farmers. It's a really big deal for the health of our farm community, our agriculture community, which these amazing patriots behind me represented in many ways, but combine that with the cost of inputs, and we almost, uh, we inherited, frankly, a, a perfect storm.
In that year, uh, even though we're, you know, recalibrating the tariffs around the world, we're putting America first, we've seen a lot of those numbers come down, of course, eggs at the top of the list, but dairy is down. Fruits and nuts are down. Beef, as we've talked about here as well, is up, but we are at a 75 year low on our beef herd.
That, by the way, is an around the world issue. The supply is not meeting the demand, but this president and we are resolutely focused on beef. One of the, um, beautiful things about the Make America Healthy Again movement and, and honestly, Secretary Kennedy, my joy to work alongside him, is putting real food back at the center of Americans' diets, and we've already seen an uptick in the purchase of protein, et cetera.
The demand for that is, is kind of remarkable to see just in, in a few short eight weeks. And then, of course, we are now requiring the 250,000 retailers that take the EBT, the food stamp dollars to double their stocking standards of healthy food. Again, great news for our farmers and ranchers. The market is adjusting.
We are fighting every day to continue to bring those costs down, and we're really, really proud of the work so far. God bless you all. Thank you so much. It's great to be here.
Thank you.
Thank you.