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On Tuesday morning on the steps of the USDA in Washington, D.C., Secretary of Ag Brooke Rollins rolled out the next pillar of USDA’s Make Agriculture Great Again Initiative: the National Farm Security Action Plan. This policy pillar “seeks to protect our borders, enhances the farm safety net and domestic agricultural production, and improves outcomes for American consumers,” according to policy documents.
The department shared a detailed policy plan to protect American agriculture from foreign threats in a 12-page Farmer Security Is National Security Action Plan provided to Successful Farming on Monday.
“Today, threats to American agriculture not only expose us to risks of shortages, foreign dependencies, and higher prices but they also strike at one of the most essential pillars of the American republic,” according to the policy plan. “Defending access to American abundance and preserving the American experiment is the essence of agriculture security. And it is why farm security is national security.”
Rollins was joined by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, along with members of Congress and several governors. “This Action Plan serves as the launching point for USDA to work in further unison with governors, state legislators, and other partners to fully integrate agriculture into the broader national security enterprise over the coming months and years,” according to the policy plan.
This is the second pillar of the Make Agriculture Great Again initiative. The first focused on small family farms, “which are the heart of our communities and our nation,” according to Farmers First documents.
Here are the key takeaways of the announcement with more detail below:
- Promote agricultural and economic prosperity by securing U.S. farmland, identifying gaps in the supply chain, and protecting the U.S. nutrition safety net.
- Protect agriculture research and innovation by enhancing research security and evaluating USDA programs.
- Strengthen domestic agricultural productivity by safeguarding plant and animal health and protecting critical infrastructure.
Promote Agricultural and Economic Prosperity
The first goal is to prioritize domestic agricultural production by securing stronger, more collaborative partnerships and incentivizing domestic economic growth by strategically removing foreign impediments.
Protect American Farmland
Land owned by foreign nationals is a potential threat to national security, according to the policy document. In particular, the document called out foreign adversaries and those from countries of concern who get that designation by the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, and the direction of national intelligence. “USDA will ensure transparency of foreign U.S. agricultural land ownership and pursue robust and overdue updates to data collection, reporting, and analysis,” the document continues.
There are laws in place currently at the state level and national level addressing foreign land ownership, including the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) of 1978, which requires foreign investors who acquire, transfer, or hold an interest in U.S. farmland to report holdings and transactions to the USDA. In January 2024, the Government of Accountability Office published a report on foreign farmland ownership, providing recommendations for enhancing efforts to collect, track, and share key information.
USDA Solution: USDA outlined plans to reform the AFIDA process; end the purchase or control of farmland by nationals from countries of concern or foreign adversaries; work in conjunction with the Department of Treasury to review foreign transactions that involve farmland, agricultural businesses, agriculture biotechnology, or the agriculture industry; and launch an online portal for farmers to report possible false reporting in regards to AFIDA and submit claims of adversarial foreign influence on policymakers related to farmland purchases and business deals that impact the agricultural supply chain.
Enhance Agricultural Supply Chain Resilience
USDA’s next goal is to reduce reliance on other countries for inputs in the American food supply chain. “By analyzing and identifying supply chain gaps and other security vulnerabilities, USDA can help refocus domestic investment into key manufacturing sectors and identify non-adversarial partners to work with when domestic production is not available,” the document states. “Importation of commodities and other agricultural products could introduce dangerous pathogens harmful to animal or human health and devastate U.S. industry if they neglect or disregard USDA safety and import requirements.
USDA Solution: USDA will create a list of critical ag inputs and materials; conduct regular assessments to identify risks and security vulnerabilities to the ag sector, including those related to storage and transportation of ag products; and review and update import restrictions to prevent the spread of dangerous biochemicals and biological agents from entering the country.
Protect the U.S. Nutrition Safety Net
USDA’s 16 nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) “should be preserved for truly needy individuals legally in the U.S., safeguarding them from fraud, abuse, and foreign adversaries,” according to the policy document. “Vulnerabilities in the SNAP payment system are a persistent target of transnational criminals and gangs. Law enforcement has identified a troubling trend of transnational criminal organizations stealing from the poor and the American taxpayer by such means as cloning point of sale devices and card skimming.”
USDA Solution: USDA will ensure that all of its relevant programs comply with associated laws, regulations, and Executive Orders; ensure funds across USDA’s nutrition programs are not being used to fund terrorism or criminal activity; and disqualify authorized retailers that are complicit in SNAP fraud.
Protect Agriculture Research and Innovation
The second overarching goal of the farmer security plan is to enhance agricultural research, development, and innovation while ensuring that advancements don’t have negative consequences. That could include access to unsecure data collection and data access by adversarial foreign entities, interruption of services enabled by cyber tools, and potential for agroterrorism.
Enhance Research Security
“Securing our agricultural research enterprise from foreign influence, intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers, and agroterrorism threats will ensure taxpayer funds going toward science, technology, and innovation put American farmers and ranchers first and advance U.S. business innovation,” the document outlined.
USDA Solution: The USDA will implement a new process to make certain all USDA funded research is valuable to American farmers and foresters and enhance research security by ensuring that entities that receive USDA funding certify that key participants are not owned or controlled by foreign adversaries, are not party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program, and disclose gifts and contracts from countries of concern of other foreign adversaries.
Evaluate USDA Programs to Ensure America First Policies
USDA will be evaluating programs to ensure they directly support American farmers. The document called out three specific programs: Small Business Innovation Research, Small Business Technology Transfer, and the USDA BioPreferred Program. The BioPreferred Program allows companies in foreign countries to be placed in the BioPreferred Program Catalog for the mandatory federal purchasing and voluntary labeling initiatives.
USDA Solution: The USDA will review these programs and prevent people and entities from countries of concern or foreign adversaries from taking advantage of them; revoke BioPreferred Certification to entities located in these countries; identify and eliminate agreements going to people and entities from these countries; prioritize USDA funding to be used for American-made technology, research, and innovation; and review security clearances across USDA.
Strengthen Domestic Agricultural Productivity
The final overarching goal of the farmer security plan is to move resources, expertise, and ownership back to states and local communities.
Safeguard Plant and Animal Health
Biosecurity threats, including invasive species, animal diseases, and pathogens, pose a serious risk to American agriculture, according to the document.
USDA Solution: USDA will work to strengthen our response to biosecurity threats; in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, ensure ag projects they fund promote military readiness and enhance ag security; and protect plant and animal health through the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and other innovations to mitigate or eradicate plant and animal diseases.
Protect Critical Infrastructure
The last aspect of the plan is to protect agricultural companies from attacks, including cybersecurity threats, that can disrupt essential operations.
USDA Solution: The USDA will work with private companies to ensure they have access to resources to protect their operations from cybersecurity and ransomware attacks; continue to work with intelligence and law enforcement communities; and support the development of an agro-defense workforce, which will help secure the American agriculture sector.
