Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture
Last updated: 21 November 2025
Summary
Brooke Rollins serves as Secretary of Agriculture in the second administration of Donald J. Trump. Her appointment marks a shift in the leadership of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) toward a policy agenda strongly aligned with national-economic strategy, rural revitalisation and conservative regulatory reform. Drawing from her prior work as a policy adviser, think-tank leader and domestic-policy strategist in the Trump ecosystem, she brings a blend of ideological conviction and institutional ambition to a department that manages everything from farm subsidies and nutrition programmes to forestry, food safety and rural development. Supporters describe her as a bold reformer determined to revitalise rural America and support U.S. agricultural self-reliance; critics argue her record reflects policy stances that over-emphasise deregulation, favour big agribusiness and raise concerns for environmental, food-labor and nutrition-program safeguards.
Background and Rise
Brooke Leslie Rollins was born in 1972 in Glen Rose, Texas, and was raised in a rural and small-town environment. She earned a Bachelor of Science in agricultural development from Texas A&M University, where she became the first woman elected student-body president, and later obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law. Early in her career she worked in commercial litigation and filed brief clerkships, before joining the administration of Texas Governor Rick Perry as deputy general counsel, ethics advisor and policy director.
In 2003 Rollins became president and chief executive officer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative think tank, where she served until 2018. Under her leadership the TPPF grew from a small state-level institution into a national policy operation with influence across multiple states. In 2018 Rollins joined the Trump White House as assistant to the president for strategic initiatives and director of the Office of American Innovation, and later acting director of the Domestic Policy Council.
In late 2024 Trump nominated Rollins to be Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Senate confirmed her in February 2025. She assumed leadership of USDA in a period characterised by intense debate about trade, farm subsidies, climate policy, rural labour and the future of U.S. food systems.
Role and Influence in the Administration
As Secretary of Agriculture, Rollins leads an agency that employs hundreds of thousands of staff, administers large subsidy and nutrition programmes, regulates food safety and manages public lands, forestry and conservation. Her influence stretches across rural America, global agricultural markets and domestic food policy.
Rollins has rapidly positioned the USDA as a core instrument in the administration’s “economic-sovereignty” and rural-revitalisation agenda. She emphasises that agriculture is not only about crops and ranching but about strategic autonomy, supply-chain resilience and rural-community livelihood. She has stated publicly that the department must deliver for farmers, ranchers and rural towns, while integrating USDA policy with trade, technology and infrastructure. Within the administration, she is seen as a bridge between agricultural constituencies, finance and industrial strategy, and her prior experience in the domestic-policy apparatus gives her elevated access and visibility.
Policy Priorities and Orientation
Rural revitalisation and farm strength
Rollins emphasises supporting small and mid-sized farms, promoting investment in rural infrastructure, and expanding opportunities in agriculture beyond traditional commodity crops. She frames agriculture as a pillar of national strength and rural communities as vital to American renewal.
Trade, food-security and domestic production
She prioritises reducing U.S. dependence on foreign agricultural inputs, promoting export markets for U.S. products and negotiating trade relationships that benefit American farmers. Her leadership signals a tighter integration between USDA trade policy and national-security concerns.
Regulatory reform and deregulation
Rollins has promoted streamlining permitting, reducing regulatory burdens on farmers and ranchers, and rolling back certain federal rules that she says hinder productivity and innovation in agriculture. She sees USDA as needing to be responsive and efficient rather than bureaucratic.
Nutrition, food-safety and farm-labour challenges
While Rollins has pledged to maintain core USDA functions such as nutrition programmes and food safety, she also emphasises that these must be aligned with farm productivity and economic competitiveness. She supports modernising farm-labour policy, including efforts to ensure that labour shortages in agriculture—especially given tighter immigration enforcement—are addressed through regional workforce solutions, technology and mechanisation.
Controversies and Criticism
Rollins’s tenure has been marked by several significant controversies and critiques:
Ethanol and farm-subsidy record
Earlier in her policy-career, Rollins opposed certain federal ethanol-mandates and farm-subsidy regimes, positions that raised alarm among Midwestern corn-and-soybean farmers. During her confirmation hearing she said those positions were “historical” and that she intended to support current bio-fuel incentives, but some critics remain sceptical about her earlier track record.
Climate-change scepticism
During her confirmation process, Rollins acknowledged that while climate change “is happening,” she said the “cause and solutions are not widely understood.” Her remarks raised concern among environmental and agricultural scientists who argue that understanding of climate risk is essential for modern agriculture. Her stance has prompted debate over whether USDA leadership under her will adequately address climate adaptation, sustainable practices and farm resilience.
Food-security and nutrition-programme risk
Rollins takes office at a moment when farm incomes are low, trade tensions high and nutrition-programme costs escalating. Some civil-society groups have warned that her deregulatory agenda could threaten nutrition assistance and school-meal programmes that the USDA administers, calling the combination of aggressive trade and labour-policy stances a potential threat to vulnerable rural or low-income communities.
Public-land and forest-rule changes
Within months of her appointment, Rollins directed USDA to rescind the long-standing “roadless rule” affecting national forests—potentially opening millions of forested acres to new logging, mining or development. Conservation organisations argue the move undermines ecosystem protections and ignores Indigenous and environmental stakeholder voices.
Public Image and Outlook
Brooke Rollins presents a public image of a small-town Texan, policy operative and ambitious Cabinet official pushing for bold reform of U.S. agriculture. Supporters admire her as a champion of rural America and global agricultural competitiveness. Critics note that her think-tank background, deregulatory posture and early policy signals favour agribusiness and conservative priorities across labour, environment and trade.
Her long-term legacy will depend on measurable outcomes: whether rural incomes rise, rural communities thrive, U.S. food-system resilience improves and whether her regulatory reforms deliver without cost to environment, nutrition or food-worker rights. Observers will also watch how USDA under her leadership balances global trade friction, agricultural labour shortages and climate-driven shocks. Rollins’s high-profile appointment places her among the most consequential Cabinet members of Trump’s second term.
Sources
U.S. Department of Agriculture — “Brooke L. Rollins Sworn in as 33rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture”
Reuters — “US Senate confirms Brooke Rollins to lead the USDA”
The Guardian — “Trump picks Brooke Rollins to lead Department of Agriculture”
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