Donald Trump nominates Brooke Rollins to head the Department of Agriculture

Photo: Evan Vucci Associated Press Brooke Rollins speaks at a campaign event at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024.

Bill Barrow – Associated Press and Zeke Miller – Associated Press

Published at 7:53 p.m.

• United States

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will nominate Brooke Rollins, a former White House aide, as secretary of agriculture, the latest of his nominations and another pick from his established circle of advisers and allies.

The nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, which will be controlled by Republicans when Mr. Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2025. Ms. Rollins would succeed Tom Vilsack, President Joe Biden’s agriculture secretary who oversees the sprawling agency that controls policies, regulations and aid programs related to agriculture, forestry, livestock, food quality and nutrition.

Ms. Rollins, a graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime associate of Mr. Trump who served as his former domestic policy chief. She is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group that is helping lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration.

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Brooke Rollins, 52, previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

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Rollins’s pick rounds out Trump’s selection of executive branch heads, just two and a half weeks after the former president won the White House again. Several other picks that traditionally sit at the Cabinet level remain in place, including the U.S. trade representative and the head of the Small Business Administration.

Trump didn’t provide many details about his farm policies during the campaign, but farmers could be hurt if he follows through on his promise to impose broad tariffs. During the first Trump administration, countries like China responded to U.S. tariffs by imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports like corn and soybeans, which are regularly sold abroad. Mr. Trump responded by offering a massive multi-billion dollar aid package to farmers to help them weather the trade war.

President Abraham Lincoln founded the Department of Agriculture in 1862, when about half of Americans lived on farms. It oversees numerous programs supporting farmers, animal and plant health, and the safety of meat, poultry, and eggs that anchor the nation’s food supply. Its federal nutrition programs provide food to low-income people, pregnant women, and young children. It sets standards for school lunches.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mr. Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services, has pledged to eliminate ultra-processed foods from school lunches and to prevent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients from using food stamps to buy soda, candy or other so-called junk foods. But the Agriculture Department, not Health and Human Services, would be responsible for implementing those changes.

In addition, the two departments will work together to finalize the 2025-2030 edition of the American Food Guide. It is expected to be released late next year, along with healthy eating tips and standards for federal nutrition programs.