USDA solicited donations up to $500K each from four firms with pending federal matters for Secretary Rollins's discretionary fund

The Democratic staff of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, in a July 2, 2026 oversight report, found that the Department of Agriculture used a discretionary "Secretary's Priorities" fund — controlled by Secretary Brooke Rollins and administered through the congressionally chartered National Forest Foundation (NFF) — to collect corporate money for the Great American Farmers Market, a weeklong event staged on the National Mall from August 3 to 8, 2025. Four companies — Chobani LLC, Visa Inc., John Deere, and Tractor Supply Company — each contributed between $100,000 and $499,999 to the fund, which the report described as giving the Secretary wide latitude to spend on initiatives "directly aligned with the mission and priorities" of the Forest Service.

According to the report, each of the four donors had matters pending before the federal government at the time. Visa was defending a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit; John Deere was defending a Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit and had earlier been threatened with tariffs; and the market itself distributed commodities derived from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Child Nutrition Program food-donation accounts. Planning-meeting agendas prepared for Rollins's staff and obtained by committee investigators showed an intent to solicit event donations from companies with business before the federal government.

Rules against pay-to-play arrangements exist so that regulated companies cannot purchase access or favor from the agencies overseeing them. Soliciting and accepting six-figure contributions from firms with pending federal business, channeled into a fund the Secretary personally directs, is the conduct recorded here.