On the first day of the Farm Progress Show (FPS), U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins addressed a room full of farmers and ag stakeholders, highlighting the work USDA has done in terms of investing in technology infrastructure, cutting spending, and addressing farmers’ top concerns.
During the roughly 45-minute address on Sept. 1, Rollins discussed USDA’s One Farmer, One File initiative, announced in February 2026, designed to create a single digital farmer record across USDA agencies, cutting the need for multiple submissions.
The USDA experienced 50 times the number of farmers sign up for the one-time bridge assistance program with One Farmer, One File compared to the Emergency Commodity Assistance program from the previous months, Rollins noted.
“Last year, we were directed by President Trump under an executive order to have every federal agency rethink the entire design of public-facing services and to build tools that are simple, that are modern, that are secure, and that are centered on our human needs, specifically with us, our farmers’ needs,” Rollins said.
The USDA is not just using technology to improve paperwork; the department is also investing in tools to help farmers determine the impact of regenerative practices on crop production through USDA’s feedstock carbon intensity calculator (FD-CIC), which was demoed at the USDA FPS booth alongside Iowa farmer Tom Cowser.
Created as part of USDA’s regenerative biofuels feedstock rule, FD-CIC measures carbon intensity of field corn, soybeans, sorghum, and spring canola in grams of carbon dioxide equivalents per bushel.
“Farmers who choose to implement regenerative practices have new opportunities to earn premium prices, lower their input costs, improve soil health, and strengthen the long-term profitability of your operations,” Rollins said.
Rollins criticizes prior USDA spending priorities
The Trump administration has made spending cuts across USDA, including the elimination of nearly 900 diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and trainings, Rollins said.
The Trump administration has been criticized for funding cuts, particularly regarding food safety and its approach to the New World Screwworm. On the latter, USDA is beginning to lift quarantines, with only two active cases in Texas as of Sept. 1, Rollins stated.
“When we walked in the door, there were taxpayer dollars that was being spent on fertilizer research on kombucha and mushrooms. When we walked in the door, there was taxpayer dollars being spent on how we support getting rid of racism in the pest control industry. Y’all, it was something, and I’ll tell you what it wasn’t. It was not farmers first,” Rollins said.
The USDA did cut a $324,671 grant for a program called “Increasing DEIA Programming for Integrated Pest Management.” The specific cuts to funding for kombucha- and mushroom-based fertilizer are unclear.
AgNavigator contacted USDA for clarification on the kombucha- and mushroom-related fertilizer research referenced by Rollins and will update this story if the department responds.
