Five hundred people packed into the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny on Monday night for the 13th Annual Iowa Ag Leaders Dinner to hear U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speak about agricultural issues. Her address included talk of trade and tariffs, U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, biofuel investments and reducing regulatory fees and red tape.

Rollins’ Iowa visit came only six weeks into her appointment as secretary of agriculture. She spoke about growing up on a farm in Glen Rose, Texas, and spending her childhood summers in Clear Lake, Minn., on her family’s soybean farm. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture from Texas A&M and later a law degree from the University of Texas. She said she learned about Iowa native and agricultural great Norman Borlaug while studying at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M.

“He observed that wealthy populations have many problems, while hungry populations have only one problem,” Rollins said. “We are taking steps to grow the economy through a combination of deregulation, increased production and balanced trade actions to bring jobs and prosperity back to the United States.”

She said President Donald Trump plans to focus on creating more balanced trade deals and increased market access for U.S. agricultural exports. Rollins recently announced she will travel to six countries in coming months to work on those efforts.

“As you remember in President Trump’s first term, he will not forget our farmers when he’s negotiating with our foreign leaders,” she said. “He is the ultimate deal-maker, and he is going to ensure that our farmers are being treated fairly by our trading partners. He’s a businessman at heart, so he knows just how bad our agricultural trade deficit is for our nation, and it is completely unacceptable and unsustainable.”

She said tariffs on agricultural imports are small, but the tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports are very high. She said tariffs on U.S. rice going to Japan are 700% and the tariff on dairy going to Canada is 250%.

“I know you all don’t want a handout. You want a hand up,” she said. “You want more access to our markets across the world, and where we already have that access, we need to make sure that you are treated fairly.”

She said she will be working to improve those trade agreements and tariffs when she travels abroad.

“I will be traveling to those countries and more to get a fair deal for the American family farmer, and to reassert what this great country has to offer as we adjust our current trade agreements to make sure they benefit American farmers,” Rollins said.

She mentioned how the USDA last week issued $10 billion through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program for one-time economic assistance payments for commodity producers to mitigate the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices.

The Iowa audience applauded when she mentioned working on a new Farm Bill. The current Farm Bill, the American Relief Act, signed in December, extends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 until Sept. 30.

“Together, we can avoid punting a full five-year Farm Bill for a third time, and instead provide production agriculture the certainty that you need to plan for the future,” Rollins said.

Rollins also said the National Agricultural Statistics Service reports had been restored. The reports contain crop and livestock estimates and data many in the agricultural community use daily.

Rollins had spent the day visiting Elite Octane, a biofuels production facility, and the Manning Farm, a family-owned hog and row crop operation, both in Atlantic. At Elite Octane, she announced funding for the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program. The program is designed to significantly increase the sales and use of higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel by expanding the infrastructure for renewable fuels derived from U.S. agricultural products.

“That’s $537 million in new investments for upgrades at 543 gas stations across our country,” Rollins said. “That’s a game changer. I mean, the continuing effort to expand these opportunities are so important.”

Rollins also talked about making nutritional foods more accessible through USDA programs to help reduce obesity and chronic health conditions.

“I’m thrilled to see states like Iowa and Gov. [Kim] Reynolds stepping up with a bold and aligned vision on making America healthy again, when our country has obesity in children, or near obesity of 4 out of 5, when our chronic diseases are at an all-time high, when the life expectancy is the lowest of any developed nation in the world, something has to change,” Rollins said.

Before her national appointment, Rollins served as Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s deputy general counsel, ethics adviser and policy director.

Reynolds and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig also spoke to the audience of state and ag leaders, including Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand to former Gov. Terry Branstad, who served as the ambassador to China during Trump’s first term and as president of the World Food Prize until March.