By Grace Yarrow

USDA nominee Brooke Rollins' confirmation hearing is set for Thursday, Jan. 23. | Carolyn Kaster/AP

— It’s Inauguration Day! Trump 2.0 is teeing up to assume control of USDA — and Brooke Rollins has a lot to get ready for.

— The bird flu outbreak is halting poultry activities in Georgia and raising concerns about risks of raw pet food.

— Trump is planning a quick execution of his mass deportation plans, which will immediately impact agricultural workers and potentially drive up food prices.

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ROLLINS’ AGENDA: Inauguration Day has arrived for President-elect Donald Trump, and it’s time for his administration to take USDA — and ag policy — by storm.

Here’s what’s on USDA nominee Brooke Rollins’ to-do list.

1. Confirmation hearing: The Senate Ag Committee will meet for Rollins’ confirmation hearing on Thursday, as your host first reported.

Rollins’ hearing was delayed due to missing financial disclosures and ethics agreements, which were released publicly Friday.

Despite those paperwork delays, Trump’s USDA nominee is still flying through the process compared to the president’s first USDA pick, Sonny Perdue. Perdue wasn’t confirmed until late April.

“The meetings continue to be very productive with Republicans and Democrats. I’m so grateful for the grace and the kindness and the interest that everyone has shown so far,” Rollins told MA. “I’m especially grateful to [Senate Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.)], who has just done a remarkable job and I’m really looking forward to Thursday.”

2. Fill out USDA staff: Trump and his USDA landing team still need to fill out several positions that require Senate confirmation and a slew of other staff for the department.

Trump announced four USDA undersecretary nominees Thursday, who will oversee policies for trade, marketing, natural resources and farm production.

Over the weekend, our Playbook colleagues reported Kailee Tkacz Buller will be chief of staff at USDA under Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins. She previously has been president and CEO of the National Oilseed Processors Association.

(Loyal MA readers might notice that Tkacz Buller’s experience representing oilseed processors directly clashes with HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claims that seed oils are “poisoning” Americans.)

3. Start ‘fighting for American farmers’: Ag industry representatives and Trump allies are hoping that Rollins will be a voice for agriculture through conversations about tariffs and immigration that will affect U.S. agriculture.

Trade and tariff policy will be a “big part of the chore” for Rollins in the administration, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told MA last month.

“She understands the tariffs are gonna be challenging,” Hoeven added. “We went through this in Trump’s first term.”

A key feature of Rollins’ résumé, some Republican senators noted, is her close relationship with the president-elect, which they hope means she will be an effective voice for agricultural interests in Cabinet discussions.

“She’s gonna be in President Trump’s ear,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told us. “She’s one of those people that’s just relentless. And I think that she’ll be right there fighting for American farmers.”

4. Undo or advance Biden’s rulemaking: Rollins will have to decide what to do about rules introduced by the Biden administration’s USDA, including some so-called “midnight regulations” rolled out in recent weeks.

Top priorities for Biden’s USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack have been pro-competition rulemaking and embracing climate-smart agriculture funding through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Trump 2.0 will also be positioned to undo Biden’s DEI work at USDA, which included establishing an Equity Commission that released its final report about a year ago.

5. Make a farm bill plan: Trump allies on Capitol Hill will have an active role in developing the farm bill reauthorization this year. In her meetings with dozens of senators, Rollins has already been focused on getting a status check on farm bill priorities.

HAVING AN (AG) BALL: On Saturday, Rollins’ America First Policy Institute — described as Trump’s “White House in waiting” — hosted an inaugural gala. Rollins was also spotted at an inauguration kickoff party hosted by Donald Trump Jr. at the Conrad hotel Friday night.

Among other glitzy affairs around Washington, tonight marks the Bipartisan Inaugural Ball: Celebrating American Agriculture hosted by WinCo Fundraising LLC.

MAHA Action is also hosting the first-ever “Make America Healthy Again” inaugural ball tonight, celebrating the leadership of HHS nominee Kennedy, who’s pledged to revamp the country’s health and food systems.

(Read more about the dozens of balls celebrating the broadening MAGA coalition from our colleagues Megan Messerly and Dasha Burns here.)

AVIAN INFLUENZA STEPS: Another top concern for the incoming Trump health and ag officials? The worsening bird flu outbreak.

Vilsack noted in December bird flu is one of the top issues the department will have to deal with going forward.

Georgia outbreak: The Peach State’s agriculture department is halting all in-state poultry exhibitions, shows and sales “until further notice” due to a bird flu detection in a commercial poultry flock. It’s the first avian influenza case in the state since the outbreak began.

"This is a serious threat to Georgia’s #1 industry and the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians who make their living in our state’s poultry industry,” Georgia Ag Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a statement.

Pet food risk: The FDA is requiring cat and dog food manufacturers to consider the risk of H5N1 in companies’ food safety plans after cats died after consuming raw pet food contaminated with the virus.

Bird flu cases have been detected in domestic and wild cats in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state that are associated with food contaminated by raw meat.

Cats in particular can experience severe illness or death from bird flu infections. Dogs typically exhibit more mild symptoms and lower mortality compared to cats.

Pasteurizing, cooking or canning the raw meat in pet food products can help prevent the virus from being spread, per the FDA.

USDA’s moves: Six new states are participating in USDA’s bulk milk testing program for avian influenza, the department said Friday.

The Ag Department also announced Friday that it was enhancing testing of turkey flocks in states affected by bird flu. In December, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service found a genetic link between bird flu in turkeys, the virus detected in raw pet food and an infected household cat.

USDA is piloting the turkey guidance starting with facilities with more than 500 birds in Minnesota and South Dakota, but could expand the requirements. Turkeys will need to be isolated with clinical monitoring and testing for 72 hours prior to slaughter.

DEPORTATIONS THREATEN AG WORK: As he is sworn in Monday to become the nation's 47th president, Trump’s biggest challenge may be that his plan to solve one of Americans’ most pressing issues — the border — could fuel another problem: elevated consumer prices. It’s a concern shared by even some Trump allies.

Trump has vowed that mass deportation will be a Day One priority, and while he intends to remove those with criminal records first, he says he has “no choice” but to deport anyone who is in the U.S. illegally.

If he follows through, the costs could be enormous. Economists warn that grocery prices would climb as agricultural production slowed, while driving up construction and health care costs. A lot depends on how many workers are ultimately deported or if outmigration accelerates and the arrival of new working-age migrants slows.

Ag impact: Unauthorized immigrants represent about 40 percent of all crop farmworkers, according to the USDA.

If farm production “got seriously disrupted, that almost necessarily translates into what one sees at the grocery store,” said J.H. Cullum Clark, the director of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative.

Read the full story from our Sam Sutton here.

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— The Biden administration wrapped up an FDA strategy to better prevent norovirus and hepatitis A outbreaks from fresh and frozen berries.

— House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) announced vice chair and subcommittee roles for panel Republicans.

THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line and send us your agriculture job announcements or events: gyarrow@politico.com, marciabrown@politico.com, abehsudi@politico.com and ecadei@politico.com.

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