Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins began her speech at the 2026 CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) in Dallas with a shout-out to her fellow administration members, mentioning the tight bonds and camaraderie of the Trump administration's members.
The secretary spent some of her time early on talking about the agenda of President Trump and the work done by the administration members in general, before naming some specific achievements of the Department of Agriculture, such as:
- 3.5 million people off food stamps. This item reveals very clearly the difference between Republicans' and Democrats' views on success in government programs. Democrats have always measured the success of a government program based on how many people are drawing benefits, whereas Republicans measure the success of such a program by the numbers who no longer need it. The secretary noted as well that a great deal of fraud is being weeded out of the system.
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- Reduction in food prices. Food prices for key items are coming down, especially egg prices. This is a key administration achievement. Egg prices have dropped considerably, but so have prices on butter, cheese, chicken, and more.
- Secretary Rollins went on, then, to describe the administration's efforts at making real food a centerpiece of the government's nutrition guidelines. To that end, she described working with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Secretary Rollins again mentioned what she described as the cohesiveness of the Trump team, including working with two former Democratic presidential candidates: Mr. Kennedy and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
- The secretary also took a moment to describe the USDA and Health and Human Services to place farmers and ranchers back at the center of American agricultural policies, as well as improving the diets served to a variety of people ranging from school kids to military members, noting the administration's emphasis on real food.
It's important to note that the USDA produces several Monthly Cost of Food Reports, aimed at helping Americans get the most bang for their grocery bucks. USDA describes those reports thusly:
USDA produces four food plans at successively higher cost levels: the Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans, illustrating how a healthy diet can be achieved at various costs. Each food plan specifies quantities of foods and beverages that could be purchased and prepared to make healthy meals and snacks at home. Each food plan has an associated cost based on average prices of their respective foods and beverages at the time of publication plus adjustments each month to reflect inflation using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Additional background information is available on the USDA Food Plans webpage.
For specific foods and quantities of foods in the Food Plans, and more information about the methods of development, see the Thrifty Food Plan, 2021 and The Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans, 2007. More information on the cost adjustments to the Thrifty Food Plan for Alaska and Hawaii is available in the Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimates for Alaska and Hawaii report.
In closing, the secretary recalled talking with the American Conservative Union's (ACU) Mercedes Schlapp in 2021, not long after former Pres. Joe Biden took office, talking about how things looked bad, and drew a sharp contrast to how things are now. She spoke again for several moments about how the Trump administration is taking America back, beginning to get the country back on its feet, not just for the next two years, but for the next 250 years.
You can watch CPAC 2026 proceedings live here.
[Editor's Note: This article was edited for clarity post-publication.]