MAZON, Conservation Voters criticize Rollins,while wheat industry congratulates her (Fence Post)
This article was originally published in the Fence Post on November 26th, 2024.
More agriculture-related groups have reacted to President-elect Trump’s choice of Brooke Rollins as agriculture secretary.
Abby Leibman, president and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger said, “Donald Trump’s domestic policies during his first term were disastrous for the tens of millions of low-income Americans facing food insecurity, so it is deeply alarming that he would select one of the architects for those blueprints to lead USDA moving forward.”
“We are facing a growing hunger crisis in our country, and we have strong reason to believe that Rollins would use this perch to make poverty and hardship significantly worse,” Leibman said.
“The fact that this was President-elect Trump’s final Cabinet appointment, one that comes after an apparently erratic change of nominees at the last moment, demonstrates his misjudgment of the importance of the agency and the overall chaos of the transition.
“Rollins has already proven herself deeply antagonistic to those in need, proposing additional, ineffective work requirements on Americans receiving federal assistance and furthering the false stereotype that benefit recipients are avoiding work to commit ‘fraud’ against the government. These assertions strike very real fear and shame into the millions of people already struggling to keep food on the table.
“We will have an opportunity during the nominee’s confirmation hearings to discern how she intends to address America’s food insecurity crisis, and we urge members of the Senate to vote accordingly,” Leibman said.
Madeleine Foote, Healthy Communities Program director for the League of Conservation Voters, said, “Trump’s decision to nominate Brooke Rollins to head USDA shows that he is determined to fill his cabinet with loyalists who will do whatever he says.”
“Rollins has a long history of attacking the science of climate change and climate policy before, during and after her tenure in the first Trump administration,” Foote said.
“We need a secretary of agriculture who will look out for the needs of our farmers and families by supporting robust conservation programs that ensure farmers are part of the climate solution and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change.”
U.S. Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers issued a joint news release.
“As the wheat industry’s export market development organization, U.S. Wheat Associates looks forward to working with Secretary-designate Rollins and the President-elect’s administration on issues related to fair global trade and market access,” said U.S. Wheat Associates President and CEO Vince Peterson.
“We welcome a renewed partnership with her and USDA to support U.S. agriculture and the farmers we represent in the world wheat market.”
“Congratulations to Brooke Rollins on her nomination to serve as our next secretary of Agriculture. NAWG members look forward to working together to foster public policy initiatives that will help wheat growers and rural communities thrive,” said NAWG CEO Chandler Goule.