KSHB 41 anchor/reporter JuYeon Kim covers agricultural issues and the fentanyl crisis. Share your story idea with JuYeon.
—
Top Producer Summit 2025 is being held in Kansas City, Missouri, this week at the Loews Hotel.
Farmers from around the country, along with others involved in agriculture, gathered to talk about the biggest issues facing their industry and potential solutions.
They had the opportunity to meet the Trump administration's U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, who joined U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, of Kansas, for a fireside chat.
Rollins shared her vision for her job and talked about her humble roots. She grew up on a family row crop farm in Minnesota and was involved in 4H and FFA.
“Every minute of every day for the next four years, I will do everything within my power, with hopefully God’s hand on all of us and our work, to ensure that we’re not only entering the golden age for America, as my boss President Trump likes to say, but we’re entering the golden age for agriculture,” Rollins said.
Hundreds of farmers came from around the country to attend the three-day summit.
Missouri farmer Kelby Palmer came to listen for possible solutions to declines in profit from her farm.
“Our every move is just very critical right now,” Palmer said.
In addition to her ongoing struggles, she's thinking about the impact of President Trump’s new tariffs on trade.
“It’s gonna hurt the agriculture sector for a little bit, specifically the row crop side of things,” Palmer said. “It’s gonna hurt, but long-term, I do think it’s gonna be a good thing.”
Secretary Rollins addressed the tariffs in an interview with Farm Journal following her fireside chat.
“The president is really focused on getting America back to work, back to producing, putting America first again," she said. "And we saw the numbers slide in the last administration, part of that is tariffs. But my perspective is, while we’re having that conversation, let’s get out around the world and let's cut these deals. Let’s use the leverage we have right now.”
Other concerns from the audience included the unpredictability of weather, commodity prices, high input costs, farmland retention and labor.
“Labor across the board is an issue in all of agriculture,” said Kansas farmer Chase Larson. “We need to get some sort of comprehensive, really good H2A program going.”
Larson has employed several workers for 15 years who hail from Mexico.
With so many unprecedented issues facing agriculture, KSHB 41 asked farmers how they would measure the success of Rollins and the second Trump administration.
They said success would equal more profit, a successful farm bill and retention of generational farmland.
“How do you encourage that younger generation to want to embrace that lifestyle, but to give them a lifestyle enough they can still take care of their families and bring that future of that operation into the next generation?” said Wyoming farmer Ron Rabou.
