Trump's USDA pick could focus on foreign investments in agricultural land

WASHINGTON — Brooke L. Rollins is posed to tackle foreign investments in U.S. agricultural land if confirmed as Agriculture secretary, but she will face some limitations on the scope of her power to do so.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Nov. 23 that he will nominate Rollins to lead the Agriculture Department. Rollins was a senior aide for Trump during his first administration and is the president and CEO of America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded in 2021.

The AFPI has called on Congress to restrict China’s ability to own U.S. agriculture land. Rollins said in an AFPI video in October that the think tank’s agenda mirrors what “would have been the second-term agenda, which we had built out in the last year of the last White House.”

“We’ve had at AFPI the last few years been focusing on ag lands that the purchase of, you know, agricultural lands all over this country, some of them near our military bases,” she said in the video.

Foreign investments in U.S. agriculture land accounts for about 40 million acres in 2021, according to the USDA. The Government Accountability Office said in a 2024 study that such purchases, especially when near military installations, can pose national security risks.

The USDA collects data on foreign investments under a 1978 Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure law, or AFIDA, but the GAO study found the department doesn’t share the information in a timely manner and provided six recommendations for the Agriculture secretary to increase oversight.

The USDA agreed to five of the six recommendations, which included directing the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center to coordinate with the interagency group, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., to establish a process to provide timely AFIDA data to CFIUS and the Defense and Treasury departments.

The Agriculture Department also agreed to, as a priority, requiring FPAC-BC and the Farm Service Agency to complete a joint analysis to determine the ability of the agency to create an AFIDA online submission system and public database, as required by the 2023 consolidated appropriations law.

The USDA did not agree to the recommendation that the secretary should direct FPAC-BCE to ensure that AFIDA reporting is complete, citing the need for additional funds. The GAO lists all the recommendations as open, meaning actions haven’t been taken or are being planned.

A USDA spokesperson said the department has “made progress in implementing these six requested improvements,” and it tracks and reports foreign-owned agricultural land in more than 3,000 counties and county equivalents and 500 sovereign tribal nations.

“Full implementation will require the allocation of additional resources by Congress, which has thus far has failed to provide sufficient funding for both program modernization and additional staff to support this work,” the spokesperson said.

As Agriculture secretary, Rollins can continue to take up fulfilling those recommendations, which have support from House Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa. The House version of the farm bill would mandate the adoption of those recommendations.

Thompson said in a statement that the House bill “builds on the recommendations from GAO’s report and I look forward to working with Secretary Rollins to ensure American land remains in American hands.”

“Foreign ownership of American land represents a real danger to the safety and security of our domestic food supply, military infrastructure, and intellectual property,” Thompson said.

Along with mandating the recommendations, the House version of the farm bill would require the USDA to enter a memorandum of understanding with the CFIUS to ensure timely data sharing between the agencies and impose a minimum penalty on persons who knowingly fail to submit an AFIDA filing.

Work with Congress

While both Republicans and Democrats are eager to check foreign investments on U.S. agricultural land, lawmakers are now eyeing another one-year extension of the existing farm bill.

Also, the issue also doesn’t entirely fall within the Agriculture Committee’s jurisdiction: the Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees will have a say as well, a committee aide said.

Rollins would likely have to work with all three committees to take on this issue during Trump’s second term.

During her time in the first Trump administration, she acted as Trump’s director of the Domestic Policy Council and the Office of American Innovation and Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives.

She worked on a bipartisan 2018 criminal justice law that required the Justice Department to establish a risk and needs assessment system to assess prisoners’ recidivism risk rate, among other policies.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, posted on social media that he enjoyed working with Rollins on the law and that he is eager to learn more about her agriculture policy positions.

In addition to creating the AFPI after Trump lost the White House, Rollins also founded the advocacy group America First Works. She grew up in the agricultural town of Glen Rose, Texas, and received a bachelor’s degree in agriculture development from Texas A&M University and a law degree from the University of Texas.

Rollins was involved with the Future Farmers of America, a youth organization that helps members prepare for a career in agriculture. She was also involved with another youth organization, 4-H.