Rollins Unveils Specialty Crop Funding
Published: Friday, April 17, 2026
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the investment of $275 million in the U.S. Specialty Crop Industry through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), and the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (BCMP). The announcement on Monday came during a press conference held at the Michigan State University's newly constructed dairy facility in East Lansing.
Rollins was hosted by Congressman Tom Barrett (R-7th) and met with a select group of Michigan agriculture stakeholders in a closed round table prior to the public announcement.
As part of the Trump Administration Working Families Tax Cuts, the USDA is providing $175 million per year for SCRI, more than double the previous
amount of $80 million annually. The funding for SCBGP and SCMP also increased from $85 million per year to $100 million per year beginning in fiscal year 2026. For the first time ever, SCRI will set aside at least $20 million to fund research and development in mechanization and automation technologies for specialty crop industries to help reduce labor costs.
"Providing this historic support for our specialty crop producers through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, our administration continues to be 100% behind our specialty crop producers, boosting funding for the research initiative, and also the block grant programs," Rollins said. The research support into specialty crops aligns with the current movement toward putting real food back into the center of the American food conversation.
"As of today, we are receiving applications; it is on the USDA website as we begin to effectuate those programs," Rollins added.
Rollins noted other work done this year in support of farmers and ranchers included changing the rule on adverse effect wage rate, lowering the hourly wage rate that farmers pay to H2A workers by more than 30%.
Addressing rising fertilizer and fuel costs, Collins stated that answers lie in both long- and short-term solutions.
"In the short term, farmers were already facing such high input costs. Obviously, fuel had come down until the conflict, and now it's gone back up. It'll come down as soon as the conflict ends. But things such as fertilizer, seed, equipment over the last couple of decades, there's been such a consolidation of the companies that we don't have competitive markets that we need to ensure we're able to move quickly when situations like this occur," she said.
Rollins defended this administration's work towards energy independence, "Our farmers are facing challenges, but the crisis facing other farmers around the world is much more significant because we have an abundance of fertilizer here."
She noted that USDA is working with fertilizer suppliers to keep prices controlled.
"Our data shows that most of our farmers locked in fertilizer prices for this planting season last fall, but for those that didn't, mostly independent farmers, we have to make sure we can stand in the gap, and we're going to do that again."
"A long-term issue as the government continues to support our farmers is the farmers continue to barely survive year after year, while at the same time, (input) companies consolidated and show an increase profitability every time a government payment goes into the system. We've got to do better at ensuring our farmers have a trajectory of profitability without being reliant on a government check."
When pressed for information on closures of USDA Forest Service research operations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Secretary Rollins said, "I am not aware of any offices we're closing in Michigan." However, employees at the research station in Houghton, Mich., located on land owned by Michigan Technical University, received notice in late March that the research station will be shuttered and employees relocated according to Evan Kane, professor of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Technical University in Houghton. The research lab and forest houses both USDA and MTU employees, sharing equipment between the two agencies.
"We received the notice in an email in late March," Kane said. "Relocation itself won't impact me personally as I am an MTU employee, but the research we do into carbon sequestration and movement in forest soils is left uncertain, as we have built specialized equipment over two decades specifically for our work here in northern Michigan."
Rollins said that many offices are closed because of high rent or aging facilities. Kane said that comment leaves him and colleagues confused at the decision, as MTU owns the forest and labs, charging USDA $1 per year in rent.
"It doesn't cost the Forest Service very much in comparison to some of the other units that did get shuttered."
Kane said the timeline for relocation is 12-24 months.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources Forest Planning and Operations Manager David Price provided additional information, verifying that the Houghton facility and its operations will be moved to Fort Collins, Colo.
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