The top issue is increasing farmer and rancher profitability
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has outlined the USDA’s priorities for the year ahead.
Through a Dec. 30 Secretary’s Memorandum, a formal internal document communicating policies and directives, the ag secretary established five priorities for research and development within the USDA.
The first listed priority is to increase the profitability of American farmers and ranchers.
Ag can be volatile industry to operate in, and farmers need assurances to run successful businesses.
“Research and development that results in increased profitability—such as reducing inputs or increasing mechanization and automation—will benefit American farmers and ranchers,” the secretary’s memo says.
The second item on Rollins’s list is to expand opportunities for U.S. products.
This includes through trade and/or new uses for crops.
“Research and development that seeks to open new markets- such as generating science and data to resolve longstanding sanitary and phytosanitary trade barriers-or expand the utilization of these commodities in novel biobased products and bioenergy (including biofuels) will result in increased demand,” Rollins writes.
Third on the secretary’s priority list is protecting American ag from invasive species.
In July, for example, Secretary Rollins closed southern border ports to livestock trade because of New World Screwworm spread in Mexico.
Spotted lanternfly, citrus greening, and avian flu are also issues of concern for American agriculture.
In Florida, for example, researchers estimate citrus greening has cost the state $7.8 billion in revenue since 2016.
Work on “new and effective methods for preventing, detecting, controlling, and eradicating these threats is a top priority for USDA and the security of U.S. agriculture,” the memo says.
The next item on Rollins’s list of priorities is promoting soil health and preserving land productivity.
USDA’s work must focus on ways to increase soil health, water-use efficiency, and reduce inputs, the secretary says.
And the final item Rollins mentions in her memo is improving human health.
This can be done with research into precision nutrition, which the National Institutes of Health defines as “an approach to developing comprehensive and dynamic nutritional recommendations based on individual variables.”
In addition, Secretary Rollins wants the USDA to research increasing the nutritional quality and content of food.