Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is considering reviving a Biden-era domestic fertilizer program as the Trump administration looks for ways to boost U.S. production and ease rising costs for farmers, according to Politico.
The move comes amid a broader push to strengthen domestic supply chains and reduce reliance on foreign fertilizer, with officials weighing how to repurpose or adapt earlier federal efforts to expand production capacity.
"We are looking into that right now," Rollins told reporters Wednesday. "We don't care whose idea it was, if it was a good idea, or at least part of a good idea — we're going to take that and build on it."
The Biden administration's Fertilizer Production Expansion Program was launched in 2023 to boost U.S. fertilizer supply after prices surged and exposed reliance on foreign producers, offering up to $900 million in federal grants to help independent companies build new plants, modernize facilities, and adopt new technologies.
The program, funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation, aimed to increase domestic production, strengthen supply chains, and promote competition in a highly concentrated global market, with officials saying it would help lower costs for farmers following price spikes tied to the war in Ukraine and other disruptions.
Rollins on Wednesday told lawmakers at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing that she's traveling to Missouri Friday to make an announcement regarding fertilizer investments.
"USDA has been working literally around the clock to harness the cost of heat and fertilizer," Rollins said.
"Certainly, what has happened in the last 45 or 50 days, the Trump administration has already taken a whole suite of actions to make fertilizer more affordable and available," she added.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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