US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins Talks Crop Costs, Senate Run

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

SPEAKER_2 (0:07)

I am indeed live in Dallas, where the Republican Midterm Convention gets underway today, and we go now live to the convention hall as we turn to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who is joining us today in her personal capacity. Madam Secretary, appreciate you being here on Bloomberg. You, of course, are not just a politician, you are a Texan, you were born in Dallas. So this is a city and a state very familiar to you, and I wonder what your take is on why exactly this state was chosen and how much of it is about trying to get Ken Paxton over the finish line in the Senate race.

Brooke Rollins (0:42)

Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. Forgive, they are doing sound checks in the back, so if we hear a little YMCA, you and I are just gonna power right through.

What an honor to have this unprecedented historical event in my home state. The town where I was born, Dallas, Texas, we're up about an hour and a half south of here in tiny little Glen Rose, Texas. But from my perspective, I mean, certainly getting Attorney General Paxton across the finish line is very, very important. But the larger context here, at least for me, is that Texas was leading the way on less government, on more freedom, on cutting taxes, on really job growth that was unprecedented until Donald Trump won that first term. And so in Texas, sort of our founding father's vision of the states being the laboratories of democracy, where innovation happens. And that is what Texas, I believe, has meant to the country. I think coming here right to the bedrock of free market conservative values makes a ton of sense. And I think the next two days are going to be really, really remarkable.

SPEAKER_2 (1:42)

Well, how do you explain to a Texan who might be facing higher prices at the gas pump, who are needing diesel to power equipment and machinery on their farms or ranches, or thinking about the price of fertilizer or the president's moves when it comes to beef? How do you message to them that Republicans should still be in charge, that in fact they are better off than they were when President Trump was just coming into office and Republicans took over the House and Senate?

Brooke Rollins (2:12)

That's right. Well, and I think again in my personal capacity and as a long time fighter for good public policy, conservative policy first in Texas and then in the first Trump administration and the second, it's this, that under the Biden four years, the average inflation was out of control. I think it was in the mid 20 percent. And that also reflected in food, that the cost of food went up 25 percent just in those four years. In the last two years, we've seen a lot of that come back down, whether it's dairy is way down, berries are down 15 percent, eggs, of course, are down retail, almost 50 percent wholesale, 90 percent that we have seen an incredible turn of events with deregulatory, cut taxes, shrink the size of government. We know these are the fundamentals to not only unleashing an economy, more people working today than ever before, an incredible job report number just last week, but also bringing the cost of goods down. In just a couple of years, we're back to historical averages of about two and a half, 2.7 percent for food, and we're going to continue to see those numbers come down.

SPEAKER_2 (3:15)

But as diesel prices on average per gallon march towards six dollars, is that really going to translate in lower end prices for the consumer? Diesel powers the economy. It feeds through into a lot of things.

Brooke Rollins (3:30)

Well, I think the first important thing is that even with today's diesel prices, they're still either at or even lower than the high price of diesel under Joe Biden. And by the way, the same with fertilizer. Fertilizer is down 50 percent, 60 percent than under the Joe Biden administration. Having said that, we know there's still so much more work to do. This president has been resolute that the idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon, you know, maybe there is some short-term compromise in terms of bringing prices down. But keeping that nuclear weapon out of the hands of people that are willing to massacre 27, 30,000, 40,000 of their own people, I think from his perspective, is really, really important. Again, having said that, those numbers are going to keep coming down. We've already shown we can do it and we will do it again.