Brooke Rollins reassures her commitment to labor for dairy farmers

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has been answering questions before the Senate Ag Committee for her confirmation hearing.

Vermont Senator Peter Welch had the chance to ask Rollins a few questions, one of which included adequate labor for dairy farmers. He says the state cannot milk their cows without immigrant labor and wants to make sure whatever decisions are made on the border do not deprive dairy farms access to labor.

“I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this - that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially, are concerned, but everybody is. Ensuring that we’re working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon...I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn’t go away. If there’s no one to milk them, then that’s big trouble.”

Related Stories
Higher prices are bringing relief to markets, but rising input costs are putting pressure on the producers.
Lower hop stocks may support prices in the near term.
Bryan Combs with USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service breaks down new farmland data from the TOTAL survey, highlights key findings, and potential impacts for the ag sector. ASFMRA’s David Klein also shares how those trends are reflected in the current farmland market, especially in the Midwest.
APHIS Veterinary Medical Officer Dr. Chelsey Shiveley discusses USDA’s biosecurity resources available to poultry producers ahead of spring migration, increasing the risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) threatens commercial flocks.
Nebraska’s largest wildfire on-record has burned 650,000 acres, with three other major fires also burning across the state, destroying pastureland and threatening cattle.
Corn and sorghum exports continue outperforming soybeans.