White House hosts farmers, discusses more support

President Trump was joined by Agriculture Secretary Rollins to host U.S. farmers and ranchers at the White House to outline its agricultural plans moving forward on Friday, March 27, 2026.

The focus of the event was discussing reducing farmers’ costs, expanding financing and pushing policy changes (biofuels and farm bill) — while also highlighting past financial aid.

The administration’s latest ag initiatives emphasize commodity support through biofuels, equipment cost relief, and direct aid, controlled environment growers may see only marginal gains—primarily through expanded financing—while key issues like labor availability and energy costs remain largely unaddressed.

“While we appreciate the administration’s focus on reducing costs and expanding access to financing for agriculture, the benefits for growers are limited and we continue to see opportunities for policymakers to build on this momentum,” said Matt Mika, vice president for advocacy & government affairs for AmericanHort.

Lowering farm equipment and input costs

Trump discussed a push for cheaper tractors and equipment, directly calling on manufacturers to reduce prices. He also announced EPA regulatory changes (especially around diesel exhaust/DEF systems) aimed at reducing breakdowns, lowering repair costs and improving reliability.

Financing and aid

The president talked about expanding access to financing, with enhanced SBA loan guarantees for agriculture to make it easier to borrow money during a period of high input costs and tight margins.

With reference to the $12 billion in recent farm aid already distributed, Trump said he will request more farm relief funding and push Congress to pass a new Farm Bill.

Supporting biofuels

There is also conversation around moving forward with biofuel blending mandates (RFS levels) and pushing for year-round E15 gasoline sales (ethanol blend). This could directly supports corn growers and ethanol producers and is expected to increase domestic demand for crops.

What’s missing for greenhouse growers

Considering that the top three cost drivers in greenhouse production are labor (H-2A/H-2B reform); energy costs (heating, electricity); and growing inputs (peat, substrates, fertilizer), there was no current focus on these needs during the press announcement with president Trump.

“Specialty crops generate more than $75 billion in annual cash receipts and represent over one-third of U.S. crop sales, yet only $1 billion of the recently announced $12 billion Farmer Bridge Program was reserved for specialty crops and other excluded commodities,” Mika said. “We are seeking a robust and equitable aid program to bring meaningful relief to specialty crop producers along with the rest of U.S. agriculture.

“Any new aid package should build on proven approaches with meaningful payment limits, flexible income eligibility, payments based on specialty crop receipts, flexible base-year selection, minimal paperwork, and safeguards against duplicative payments.

“We favor passage of a new Farm Bill to support specialty crop research, improve plant and disease programs, reauthorize the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and provide enhanced disaster assistance for tree and nursery growers, as well as support innovation and automation to help workforce challenges and keep our industry competitive. Ornamental horticulture supports nearly 3 million American jobs and contributes $520 billion to the U.S. economy. A strong, updated Farm Bill is essential to sustaining this impact,” Mika said.

AmericanHort has long advocated for workforce program improvements. “We would like the administration to continue to address workforce availability through H-2A and H-2B reform. We are in favor of changes that simplifies these programs and ensures they are affordable and easy for growers to use,” Mika said.