A group of GOP House lawmakers asked the Trump administration on Thursday to examine areas where regulations are impeding competition in ag input markets to help bring down costs for U.S. ag producers.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Attorney General Pam Bondi, 22 House Republicans requested a list of regulations across agencies limiting competition by Feb. 13.
“Please denote if the identified barriers can be addressed by the Trump administration or if they will require congressional action,” the lawmakers, led by Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, write.
Ag Committee members Dan Newhouse, Wash., Illinois’ Mike Bost and Mary Miller, Mark Harris, N.C., and Rick Crawford, Ark., were also among the letter’s signatories.
Speaking at Agri-Pulse’s annual Ag Outlook Forum in September, Rollins unveiled a memorandum of understanding with the Justice Department to scrutinize competition in ag input markets.
Among the issues under the microscope, she said at the time, are antitrust enforcement and “undue foreign influence” in fertilizer markets.
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The lawmakers said in their letter Thursday that they welcomed administration efforts to examine the issue, including the creation of a food supply chain security task force. But they pointed out that government regulation is “a critical element” of boosting competition and curbing consolidation and strangled markets.
“Overregulation not only restricts employment, limits production, and slows down the construction of new input production capacity, but it can often keep new innovations and entrants out of the marketplace,” they wrote.
The signatories cite USDA data showing that average production expenses per U.S. farm rose from around $182,000 in 2020 to more than $254,000 in 2024 – an increase of 39%.
But industry groups have argued that the nominal figures don’t capture the whole story. Once inflation has been taken into account, seed prices, for example, have been relatively flat, American Seed Trade Association President and CEO Andy LaVigne told Agri-Pulse in October. Technological advances have also led to yield increases, which are not reflected in the expense reporting.
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