On 8 July 2025, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins – in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security and the US Attorney General – announced the National Farm Security Action Plan to safeguard food supply, critical infrastructure, and agricultural innovation from foreign adversaries. The Plan focuses on seven key areas based on the principle that farm and food security is national security, with USDA identifying specific actions they will take to enact them:

1. Secure and Protect American Farmland
2. Enhance Agricultural Supply Chain Resilience
3. Protect US Nutrition Safety Net from Fraud and Foreign Exploitation
4. Defend Agricultural Research and Innovation
5. Put America First in Every USDA Program
6. Safeguard Plant and Animal Health 
7. Protect Critical Infrastructure

At a press conference that same day accompanying the announcement, Rollins noted that alongside efforts to block adversaries from acquiring farmland, the administration is working on different avenues, including presidential authorities, to claw back land that has already been purchased by Chinese entities and other foreign adversaries. Rollins also announced at the event that she would be joining the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) as a member as of Tuesday afternoon, that the agency has already canceled seven active agreements with foreign entities of concern in alignment with the key area 5 above, and that she signed a memo that day removing 70 foreign citizens affiliated with the USDA through contracts or research and is working to remove over 550 entities from the agency’s preferred catalogue. 

Speakers at the event, in addition to the heads of the agencies leading the National Farm Security Action Plan, included White House Senior Adviser Peter Navarro, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS), House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-PA), Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen. The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) has issued two letters of support from the AFPI Governors’ Council and the AFPI State Departments of Agriculture Council, signed by current state leaders from Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and South Dakota.

Two days later, on 10 July 2025, the USDA announced that it had taken four initial steps in alignment with key areas one (Secure American Farmland) and three (Protect US Nutrition Safety Net).

1. The agency rolled out its Foreign Farm Land Purchases map tool which allows users to view a color-coded map of foreign land investments using AFIDA data through 2023, plus number of parcels, total acreage, and purchase value of land by country. The resource also lists acreage and land value by state and by country and allows users to view land usage (crop, pasture, forest, other agriculture) at the individual county level.
2. The agency reiterated that the web portal to report AFIDA noncompliance—originally announced on Monday—is live. The web form allows anyone to anonymously report suspected noncompliance with AFIDA, adversarial foreign influence, improper foreign ownership of farmland, or supply chain-related foreign influence.
3. The agency expanded upon the announcement Monday that Secretary Brooke Rollins will join CFIUS as a member, providing the signed Memo of Understanding to memorialize the procedures between the Department of Agriculture and Department of Treasury as they pertain to USDA’s subject matter expertise and engagement with CFIUS. Current practice provides that the Department of Treasury’s Office of Investment Security (OIS) give the USDA Office of Homeland Security (OHS) case summaries and a weekly case log for all newly filed CFIUS cases. For cases involving agricultural equities, OIS may include additional documentation to OHS, which then reviews cases and performs due diligence as appropriate.
4. Lastly, Secretary Rollins sent a letter to state nutrition agencies notifying them that the agency will be creating a new system of records entitled the “National Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Information Database” whose primary purpose is to detect overpayments and fraud, as well as to ensure noncitizens do not receive SNAP benefits. As such, the letter reminded state agencies that they are requiring collection of SNAP data from EBT processors or state agencies beginning July 24th to be sent no later than July 30th.

We will continually monitor additional updates to the Plan, including executive orders and presidential memoranda. If you have any questions, please contact any of our team of key contacts below.

National Farm Security Action Plan Details

The Plan identifies agriculture in the US as critical infrastructure and notes that threats to agriculture expose the nation to risks of shortages, foreign dependencies, and higher prices. The Trump administration affirms that emerging challenges to national security within the agriculture sector include attacks on supply chains, malicious cyberoperations against food processors, imported illicit food products, unfair trade practices, farmland purchases, stolen intellectual property, forced technology transfer, smuggled potential bioterrorism agents, and monopolization of agricultural markets. As such, the administration—spearheaded by the USDA—has identified seven key pillars with action items the agencies will take over the coming months and years.

Secure American Farmland

• USDA will implement reforms to the AFIDA process, including creating an online filing system for AFIDA reports (including geospatial information and purpose of the land purchase) and increasing the civil penalty imposed for late and knowingly false filings.
• USDA will work with state and Congressional partners to implement legislative or executive action to end the direct or indirect purchase or control of American farmland by nationals from countries of concern or other foreign adversaries.
• USDA will sign a joint Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Treasury as chair of CFIUS to ensure regular coordination related to CFIUS reviews concerning covered foreign transactions that involve agriculture.
• USDA has launched a new online portal for farmers and others to report possible false or failed reporting and compliance with AFIDA. The portal will receive and review claims of adversarial foreign influence on federal, state, and local policymakers with respect to purchases of US farmland and business dealings in other facets of US agricultural supply chains. Submissions may be anonymous or contact information may be provided for appropriate follow-up by USDA.

Enhance Agricultural Supply Chain Resilience

• USDA will create a list of critical agricultural inputs and materials (including fertilizers, chemicals, minerals, vitamins, components of military defense systems such as nitrocellulose and natural rubber, and other materials) to identify security vulnerabilities in supply chain.
• USDA will conduct regular assessments and crisis simulation to identify risks to the food and agriculture critical infrastructure sector, including storage and transportation of agricultural products.
• USDA will review and modernize import restrictions to prevent the spread of biochemicals and biological agents. This includes enforcement against trade intermediaries throughout the supply chain. USDA will work with US Customs and Border Protection to strengthen borders against entry of restricted goods that could carry animal disease, plant pests, and biological pathogens.

Protect US Nutrition Safety Net from Fraud and Foreign Exploitation

• USDA will implement strengthened nutrition program enforcement measures and clarify expectations for both states and authorized retailers to mitigate benefit trafficking and other types of fraud.
• USDA will ensure no funds across the 16 nutrition programs are being used to fund activities related to terrorism or criminal activity.
• USDA will disqualify authorized retailers that are complicit in SNAP fraud and will work with law enforcement to combat SNAP retail fraud, including benefit trafficking and card skimming and cloning.

Enhance Research Security

• USDA will institute a new process for research funding to guarantee staff time and funds have a direct benefit to American stakeholders and prevent collaboration with countries of concern or other foreign adversaries.
• USDA will require that entities receiving agency funding certify key participants are not owned or controlled by foreign adversaries, are not party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program or similar program that could result in technology or information transfer, and contemporaneously disclose gifts and contracts received from countries of concern or other foreign adversaries.

Evaluate USDA Programs for America First Policy

• USDA will review program applications to prevent foreign adversaries from utilizing programs, including Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer. USDA will revoke BioPreferred Certification to entities located in countries of concern.
• USDA will review, identify, and eliminate all agreements going to people and entities from countries of concern or foreign adversaries as well as other arrangements with foreign entities that are no longer aligned with USDA’s mission. Upon completion of this review USDA will conduct regular assessments to identify risks in programming and take necessary actions to prioritize American farmers and businesses while balancing international collaboration with the right partners.
• Unless statutorily required and/or strategically approved by USDA leadership, all USDA funding will immediately be prioritized to be conducted in America using American-made technology, research, and innovation including but not limited to drones, biotechnology, and biomanufacturing.
• USDA will review the scale and scope of all security clearances across USDA and ensure all employees have undergone proper vetting for the work they are carrying out.

Strengthen Domestic Agriculture Productivity

• USDA will prioritize programs essential to safeguarding American agriculture by preventing, detecting, and mitigating agricultural biosecurity threats.
• USDA will partner with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to ensure agricultural projects they fund promote military readiness, protect US plants and animals, and enhance agricultural security.
• Research funded by USDA will focus on protecting plant and animal health through the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and other innovations to mitigate or eradicate priority plant and animal diseases such as citrus greening, rusts, blights, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, African Swine Fever, and Foot and Mouth Disease methods to control or eradicate invasive pests such as New World Screwworm and Spotted Lanternfly.

Protect Critical Infrastructure 

• USDA will work with private companies and the Food and Ag-Information Sharing and Analysis Center to ensure companies, regardless of size, have access to available resources to protect their operations from cybersecurity and ransomware attacks.
• USDA will work with intelligence and law enforcement communities to identify liaisons for agricultural stakeholders.
• USDA will support the development of a 21st century agro-defense workforce, including encouraging higher education programs focused on food and agriculture security.