Capital Update – For the Week Ending Feb. 14, 2025

Rollins Confirmed as New Agriculture Secretary | NPPC Expressed Serious Concerns About Dietary Guidelines Report | Ag Coalition Backs Bill to Double Dollars for Export Promotion Programs | Trump Removes Exemptions to Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, Announces “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” | California Proposition 12 Discussed at Ag Hearing | Testimony of NPPC President Stevermer to be Rescheduled

Rollins Confirmed as New Agriculture Secretary

What happened: Brooke Rollins, President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), was confirmed as the agency’s 33rd secretary on a 72-28 vote of the Senate. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry approved her nomination 23-0.

NPPC’s take: NPPC strongly supported Rollins’ nomination as secretary of Agriculture and vowed to work with the new USDA leader on pork industry priorities, including the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans; a new Farm Bill; U.S. pork export promotion; federal pork purchases; foreign animal disease prevention, preparation, and response; and, most importantly, California’s Proposition 12.

Why it matters: As Agriculture Secretary, Rollins will oversee USDA’s various agricultural programs, including ones related to conservation, forestry, and nutrition policy, foreign animal disease preparation and prevention, and export promotion. She will help shape the new five-year Farm Bill.

NPPC Expressed Serious Concerns About Dietary Guidelines Report

What happened: In comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NPPC expressed serious concerns about the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s so-called scientific report recommendations for the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

HHS and USDA use the committee’s report to write the Dietary Guidelines, which inform all federal nutrition programs, including school meals, and provide dietary recommendations used by health professionals.

Among its recommendations for the 2025 guidelines, the advisory committee said Americans should reduce and replace red meat with plant-based proteins.

NPPC, responding in October to the committee’s draft scientific report, pointed out that cutting red meat intake will lead to “significant nutrient gaps and deficiencies,” putting infants, young children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older adults, all of whom require higher amounts of protein and nutrients, at risk. NPPC more fervently reiterated the point in its latest comments.

NPPC’s take: NPPC opposes the advisory committee’s recommendation on meat, noting that “[t]here has been no scientific justification for reducing red meat and replacing it with plant-based proteins. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans need to reflect nutrition science and continue to recommend animal-based protein such as red meat as a critical part of the American diet.”

“U.S. pork producers are committed to supporting human health and nutrition with safe, wholesome, and nutritious protein; the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s recommendations do not,” said Rob Brenneman, NPPC vice president and pork producer from Washington, Iowa.

NPPC will work with the Trump administration to ensure the Dietary Guidelines best serve the health and nutrition interests of the American public.

Ag Coalition Backs Bill to Double Dollars for Export Promotion Programs

What happened: The Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports, a group of 150 agriculture organizations, including NPPC, expressed its support for the “Agriculture Export Promotion Act of 2025.” Introduced earlier in the month in the U.S. House with bipartisan support, the legislation would double funding for USDA’s Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program.

The coalition said the programs are critical to expanding global market access for American agricultural exports. Funding for MAP and FMD hasn’t increased since the early 2000s. Similar legislation has yet to be introduced in the Senate.

Why it matters: Exports add significantly to the bottom line of every U.S. agricultural producer. MAP and FMD have helped promote in countries around the world U.S. farm products, which contribute more than $22 billion to the U.S. GDP and generate nearly 226,000 U.S. jobs. According to the Coalition, for every dollar invested in the programs from 1977 through 2019, more than $24 on average was returned to American agriculture.

Trump Removes Exemptions to Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, Announces “Fair and Reciprocal Plan”

What happened: President Trump removed exceptions and exemptions – provided by the first Trump administration and the Biden administration – from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs of 25% that had allowed some countries to avoid the duties. The tariff will be effective March 12 on all countries that export steel and aluminum to the United States.

Countries that had exemptions from the Section 232 tariff included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

The steel and aluminum tariffs will hit Canada, the No. 1 foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States, and Mexico, the No. 3 steel supplier, as well as major suppliers Japan and South Korea.

Trump also announced the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” to address concerns of the growing trade deficit and ensure U.S. exports are treated fairly.

Through the new plan, the Trump administration will counter non-reciprocal trade arrangements with a customized tariff for each trading partner based on five areas: tariffs the nation imposes on U.S. products, unfair taxes imposed, cost to U.S. businesses and consumers from the country’s policies, exchange rates, and any other practices the Administration deems unfair.

Reciprocal tariffs will be implemented following a review period, which could take several months.

NPPC’s take: NPPC will monitor the effects on U.S. pork producers of the steel and aluminum tariffs and encourage the Trump administration to resolve issues with countries affected by the duties.

California Proposition 12 Discussed at Ag Hearing

What happened: The House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on the economic crisis affecting U.S. agriculture, featuring testimony from several farmers. The wide-ranging discussion touched on issues important to the pork industry, including labor, trade, and a California Proposition 12 fix in the Farm Bill.

Committee members Reps. Mike Bost (R-IL) and David Rouzer (R-NC) asked witnesses about Prop. 12, who confirmed it has been devastating for pork producers and has driven up pork prices in California. When asked about the wide-ranging impacts of Prop. 12 outside the pork industry, a corn producer witness said, anything that helps their livestock customers is very important to corn producers as well.

NPPC’s take: NPPC has led the charge to get Congress to fix the problems caused by Prop. 12. The law, which applies to pork producers throughout the country who want to sell into the populous California market, already has increased pork production operating costs, creating business uncertainty and raising consumer pork prices.

Testimony of NPPC President Stevermer to be Rescheduled

What happened: NPPC President Lori Stevermer’s testimony on the U.S. pork industry’s economic outlook before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry was postponed last Thursday. The rescheduled hearing date is yet to be determined.

The Easton, Minnesota, pork producer will participate in the second of two hearings examining “Perspectives from the Field: Farmer and Rancher Views on the Agricultural Economy.”