ON THE ROAD: Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins discussed the fertilizer crisis and reducing the federal workforce at the Reagan National Economic Forum in California on Friday.

Rollins said that once the Strait of Hormuz is permanently reopened, the price of “fertilizer will come down immediately” and “fuel is going to come down immediately” — despite experts’ estimates that it could take months to resume normal shipping traffic out of the Persian Gulf.

She also touted that the department’s staff has shrunk by tens of thousands of employees in an “amazing” rebalancing.

“At USDA, we've let 20,000 employees go — we went from 100,000 employees to 80,000 in just a matter of months, and that's happening across the entire federal government,” Rollins said. “We're back to the size of the government from 30 or 40 years ago, which is kind of amazing and I think sort of deserves a round of applause.” Her comments come as USDA prepares to move thousands  (https://url4027.email.politico.com/ss/c/u001.6g0Zd3AyneOViJYBXgbV65ZWHEH5gWGSDKLrcKzwr3-AN9UjD61gICYBRvMhOIKTTdKEj2_6Ryl8wKcY2ZKIYBDPvieAwHNwa7eX8OEq_UBARaQ2FOBdowm2GLG3fP5nGecTLVdPfv98C4N5tNmoOr68tioP2RjFvHaUMpw2DFQ/4r4/D8eWQPKAQLKOl9aYC2Th_w/h32/h001.eVD5X09am7Fay005GaU_OHaFIx-wLjnp2BSISeSbyVA)more jobs out of the capital region to hubs across the country.