Mississippi has joined five other states in urging the federal government to permanently implement relaxed agriculture regulations from the COVID-19 era.
In a letter penned to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, agriculture officials in Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia called for several regulatory measures that reportedly strengthened farming and ranching to be made permanent.
These measures include crop insurance and U.S. Department of Agriculture loan flexibility, food labeling adjustments, trucking and transportation relief, environmental compliance discretion, and import documentation modernization. Officials say this would not compromise food safety, worker protections, or environmental standards.
Many of the regulations were first implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic as emergency measures to relax rules that constrain producers, processors, and distributors. Though the pandemic was a singular event, ag leaders at the state level argue these measures cut “unnecessary red tape” and strengthened the country’s supply chains.
“Farmers and ranchers thrive when unnecessary bureaucratic barriers are removed,” Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson stated. “Reforms such as reducing duplicative rules, streamlining permitting, and modernizing outdated processes strengthen rural economies and position American agriculture for long-term success. So many of these reforms demonstrated lasting value and should be made permanent.”
The appeal by the six states comes as President Donald Trump has branded himself the most effective deregulator in the country’s history. Rollins has followed in the president’s footsteps, pushing an aggressive deregulation agenda to “unleash prosperity” for America’s agriculture sector.
Agriculture is widely regarded as Mississippi’s top industry, generating roughly $9.5 billion annually and employing around 11% of the state’s workforce. However, recent foreign trade wars and tariff policies have put an economic strain on local producers, especially those in the row crop sector. Officials are hoping that further deregulation will give farmers a much-needed break.
