Nebraska Officials React to Trump's Nominee for Secretary of Agriculture

Nov 27, 2024

By Brian Beach

The CEO of a conservative think tank was nominated as President-Elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture over the weekend.

Brooke Rollins founded the America First Policy Institute in 2021 in order to advance Trump's public policy agenda. During Trump's first term, Rollins led the administration's Domestic Policy Council.

Rollins was not among the names reported as potential nominees early on in the search. Late last week, former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler seemed poised to take over the role.

Charles Herbster, a prominent Nebraska Republican donor who led Trump’s rural vote coalition in 2024, had also been floated as a potential nominee. After Rollins' nomination, Herbster wrote that it was an "extreme honor to have been considered by my friend President Donald J. Trump for the position of Secretary of Agriculture."

Rollins grew up in the small town of Glen Rose, Texas and participated in the Future Farmers of America and 4-H. She later received a degree in agricultural development from Texas A&M University and a law degree from the University of Texas.

In a statement to Nebraska Public Media News, Congressman Mike Flood wrote, “Agriculture is Nebraska’s number one industry, supporting one in four jobs in our state. Brooke has broad experience in shaping conservative policy and is a trusted advisor to President Trump. I’m looking forward to working with her to grow American agriculture and to fight for our farm and ranch families.”

Congressman Adrian Smith showed similar enthusiasm, writing, “President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has firsthand experience in generational family farming and a proven record of delivering policy wins for hardworking Americans. From volatile input costs to crushing overregulation to vulnerable supply chains, the challenges facing our farmers and ranchers are serious, and I look forward to working with Mrs. Rollins and the Trump administration to ensure the future of American agriculture is bright.”

John Hansen, the president of the Nebraska farmers Union, had some concerns over Rollins' lack of agricultural policy experience.

"I don't see the normal kind of nuts-and-bolts logistics over farm programs and whatnot in her background," he said.

He described the Secretary of Agriculture nomination as the "last helicopter out of Saigon" for Trump allies hoping for a cabinet position, and said he believed loyalty to the president-elect was valued above policy expertise in Trump's nominations.

But Hansen said Rollins' close ties to the next president could help advance the agricultural agenda.

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.