The Trump administration is preparing a broad push to address rising fertilizer costs, as U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told lawmakers this week that officials are coordinating across multiple federal agencies to stabilize a key pressure point for farmers.
Testifying before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Rollins said the effort reflects an “all-of-government approach” aimed at both easing immediate price spikes and reshaping long-term supply chains, amid concerns about U.S. reliance on foreign producers.
“Input costs, of course, remain top of mind for our farmers, and recently, USDA has been working literally around the clock to harness the costs of key inputs like fertilizer,” said Rollins.
She told lawmakers that a long-term plan from the Trump administration to improve the costs and availability of farm fertilizer is coming soon.
“We’ve had daily calls with the White House, with EPA, with DHS, with Commerce, with Treasury—the very top of these organizations for an all-of-government approach on fertilizer,” according to Rollins. “Obviously, the short-term issues are acute and really require significant effort as we work to bring those prices down for the short term.”
Rollins outlined several steps already underway to ease near-term pressures on producers, including regulatory changes and efforts to expand supply channels.
“We are working across the cabinet to accelerate private investment, to lift permitting slowdowns, to align on transportation challenges—lifting the Jones Act, opening up lines from Venezuela, and much more to be announced very soon.”
Beyond the immediate response, Rollins emphasized deeper structural concerns about the fertilizer market and U.S. dependence on overseas sources—an issue she framed as both economic and strategic.
“The fact that we have off-shored so much of our fertilizer over the last decade or so is astounding to me. It is a national security issue when we’re relying on Russia and China for our fertilizer. So, the announcement is coming—good news, long-term structurally in some potential funding that’s going to be there—and I’ve been talking to the heads of the big fertilizer companies as well,” said Rollins.
Her remarks underscore a dual-track strategy emerging from the administration: short-term interventions to bring down costs for farmers ahead of planting cycles, paired with longer-term investments intended to rebuild domestic production capacity and reduce exposure to global supply disruptions.
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