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(Washington D.C., May 15, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins concludes the final day of her trade delegation visit to the United Kingdom. This visit comes after President Donald J. Trump announced last week, on the 80th anniversary of Victory Day for World War II, a historic U.K.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laura Zaks
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
press@sustainableagriculture.net
Tel. 347.563.6408
Comment: NSAC Responds to House Agriculture Committee Budget Reconciliation ApprovalWashington, DC, May 15, 2025 – Today, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) released the following statement attributable to Mike Lavender, NSAC Policy Director, in response to the House Agriculture Committee’s 29-25 party-line approval of budget reconciliation text that would remove more than $290 billion from the farm bill baseline.
“The House Agriculture Committee’s approval of budget reconciliation marks the end of a decades-long era in federal food and farm policy. The bill resorts to cannibalization, making unprecedented cuts to nutrition programs and mistaking increased farm subsidies as a panacea for farmers, our food system, and rural America. This choice willfully ignores the severe impacts these cuts will have on families and communities, and shatters the opportunity to pass a comprehensive farm bill. As a result, farm loans and capital access, rural development, food safety, conservation programming, the next generation of farmers and ranchers, domestic market opportunities, local and regional supply chains, and swaths of critical research are left to languish. The House of Representatives and Senate should reject this reconciliation bill – and promptly chart a course to a full, bipartisan five year farm bill.”
NSAC’s initial analysis of the reconciliation bill is here. Stay tuned to the NSAC blog for more analysis soon.
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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more: https://sustainableagriculture.net/
The post Comment: NSAC Responds to House Agriculture Committee Budget Reconciliation Approval appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
(Washington, D.C., May 15, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins published a joint opinion piece in the New York Times pushing for work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). She was joined in writing the opinion piece by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner.
Ask someone to imagine a “farm” and they will probably conjure a barn, a silo, rolling hills of crops, and pasture. That is, they will imagine rural areas.
But one of the fastest growing – and underutilized – forms of agriculture is happening in America’s cities and suburbs, neighborhoods surrounded by industry, infrastructure, and millions of people.
Urban farms take on as many forms and faces as the residents who sustain them. Some are worked on by community members or local businesses. Others sit on rooftops or vacant lots. City growers are using the latest technologies and the collective hands of their neighbors. But no matter how urban farms are tended, they lead to stronger communities, healthier kids and families, and are good for the environment. We need Congress to deliver investments now that reflect the demand for and value of urban agriculture programs. This is why nearly 200 organizations and farmers requested full funding for the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (OUAIP) through a letter sent this week to chairs of the House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations subcommittees.
Urban Agriculture in ActionConsider the comeback story of Detroit. After decades of economic struggle, urban farming plays a central role in its renewal. It is about more than just feeding people; it is about replenishing, conserving, and honoring the land.
Sanctuary Farms Team at Summertown Fresh Bar in Detroit, 2024From left to right: Parker Jean, Anders “Aer” Johnson, Dylan Polycn, jøn kent, Tony “Tuka” Johnson
Sanctuary Farms in Detroit, Michigan, has demonstrated the economic potential of urban agriculture and been a committed advocate for ongoing support for urban agriculture funding. As the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations process accelerates, jøn kent (the Co-Founder of Sanctuary Farms) shares about his work and the broader effect in Detroit.
“Detroit, like most industrious cities, has experienced soil, water, and air contamination over decades (if not centuries) of extraction and manufacturing. The land stewardship in Detroit is rooted in environmental justice. Practices of permaculture, agroforestry, composting, and other regenerative practices are ubiquitous in the urban ag scene in Detroit.
In particular, composting is a cornerstone of sustainable urban agriculture, playing a crucial role in addressing environmental degradation while fostering community resilience. As a city that has faced extensive industrial pollution, the creation of healthy, nutrient-rich soil is essential for the reclamation of contaminated land. Composting offers a convenient, regenerative solution by transforming organic waste—food scraps, yard trimmings, and agricultural byproducts—into rich, fertile compost that replenishes the soil. There are many that feel this passion in the city from the likes of Renee Wallace and Mark Convington of ReMark Solutions, Ricky Blanding of Scrap Soils, Pashon Murray of Detroit Dirt, Greg Willerer of Brother Nature, and the late Kadiri Sennefer Ra of Detroit Black Food Sovereignty Community Network.
Detroit’s composting initiatives are not only about soil health; they actively combat climate change. By diverting organic waste from landfills, these efforts significantly reduce methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas released during anaerobic decomposition in landfills. Instead, this waste is harnessed to create a resource that nourishes urban farms, gardens, and green spaces across the city.
Through a commitment to composting and urban agriculture, Detroiters also embody a circular economy, closing the food loop by returning nutrients to the soil in the same spaces where food is grown. We find this work to be ancestral, which has influenced many to become more aware of Indigenous practices, which are more sustainable and in tune with the natural cycle of life. We also are sure to honor the people of the lands we occupy – Council of Three Fires. These practices align with most indigenous principles of reciprocity and care for the earth, echoing the ancestral wisdom of stewards of the land around the world. Urban farms and community organizations in Detroit integrate composting with permaculture and agroforestry techniques, demonstrating how regenerative practices can rebuild ecosystems while fostering food sovereignty.”
The Request to CongressThis commitment to restoring and protecting the land and environment is happening all over the country. Yet so far, Congress has sold urban farming communities short. Support for urban agriculture has largely been limited to local policy, not federal policies like those in the farm bill. It took until 2018 for Congress to enact meaningful support for urban agriculture, creating the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production in the 2018 Farm Bill.
Sanctuary Farms 2022From left to right: Parker Jean, jøn kent, Tim Campbell (of Agricity)
Unfortunately, the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production has been significantly underfunded since its founding, receiving an average of 30% of the funding level authorized by Congress. Underfunding, coupled with significant demand for grants, has created a shortfall, leaving the Office able to fund less than 25% of eligible applications. Even with limited funding, however, the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production has demonstrated initial success. Congress has an opportunity to expand upon this success by taking the following steps.
First, Congress must provide $25 million through the FY26 appropriations process for OUAIP to fully implement all authorized programs and initiatives. Then, Congressional leaders on the House and Senate agriculture committees must prioritize writing and authorizing a farm bill in 2025. It should include permanent funding so the Office can provide certainty for urban farmers and communities and adequately serve program demand. At a minimum, there should be a guarantee of $10 million annually in mandatory funding, with additional funding available, as needed, through the appropriations process.
In the scope of the farm bill, that’s a modest investment. But for millions of families and communities like those in Detroit, the potential harvest is enormous. jøn kent shares,
Detroit serves as a microcosm of the transformative urban agriculture movement thriving across the nation. From Brooklyn to Los Angeles, Black communities and other communities of color are uniting to nourish their neighborhoods, heal the land, and honor the interconnectedness of all life forms that sustain us. This work represents more than food production; it embodies resilience, environmental stewardship, and community empowerment.
We strongly urge this Farm Bill to prioritize and support urban agriculturists serving food insecure communities, enabling them to continue and expand their vital efforts. By investing in these initiatives, we not only address food insecurity and environmental degradation but also honor the legacy and future of communities, shaping a more equitable, sustainable, and transformative food system.
The post Healing Land and Legacy Through Urban Agriculture appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
(London, U.K., May 13, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins concluded the second day of her trade delegation visit to the United Kingdom. This visit comes after President Donald J. Trump announced last week, on the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe, a historic U.K.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laura Zaks
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
press@sustainableagriculture.net
Tel. 347.563.6408
Release: Budget Bill Steamrolls Farm Bill Future, Slashing BillionsWashington, DC, May 13, 2025 – Yesterday evening, the House Agriculture Committee released its budget reconciliation bill text. Although a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score was not yet available, summary materials provided by the Committee claim the bill slashes over $290 billion from the farm bill baseline, while increasing spending by roughly $60 billion. The Committee is scheduled to begin “markup” on Tuesday evening.
“The budget reconciliation bill offers a simple deal – pass up a full, five year farm bill in exchange for dramatically increased farm subsidies funded by hundreds of billions in cuts that will deepen hunger and threaten farmer livelihoods. In its details, the bill falls well short of meaningful steps toward building a fair, responsible, and widely accessible farm safety net, and fails to invest in local and regional supply chains. Any specter of progress in the bill is overshadowed by the evaporation of a full, bipartisan farm bill that supports all of American agriculture,” said Mike Lavender, NSAC Policy Director.
The budget reconciliation text draws heavily from the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024, which did not move beyond the House Agriculture Committee in 2024. Last week, NSAC led 160 farmer-serving organizations in calling on Congressional Agriculture leaders to “stand for a new, full farm bill by rejecting and opposing any and all approaches to budget reconciliation that will reduce market opportunities for farmers and lessen the likelihood of a much-needed full farm bill.”
In addition to hundreds of billions in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the following are select provisions of the House Agriculture Committee’s budget reconciliation bill based on NSAC’s initial analysis:
- Dramatically raises subsidies for commodity production, including a 10 to 20 percent increase to Price Loss Coverage program reference prices and a bump to revenue guarantees under the Agriculture Risk Coverage program.
- Raises payment limits and erodes existing Adjusted Gross Income means tests through exemptions and adjustments for inflation, opening the gates to more taxpayer subsidies for millionaires and absentee landowners.
- Rescinds unobligated Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds for the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, building them into the farm bill baseline. The rescission of IRA conservation funding and the increase of farm bill conservation funding removes targeting for popular practices that help farmers deal with the impacts of climate change, including increasingly unpredictable and disruptive weather events.
- Reauthorizes and provides funding for “stranded” farm bill programs, including Scholarships for 1890s, National Organic Cost-Share, and the Organic Production and Market Data Initiative.
The budget reconciliation bill shifts the financial burden of implementing a federal nutrition benefit to states while using the cost savings to further prop up commodity production. Moreover, while the scope of a full, bipartisan farm bill can address the wide ranging needs of food and farm economies and rural communities, the budget reconciliation bill released yesterday leaves behind these critically important issues and programs, including but not limited to:
- Farm loan programs and capital access
- Conservation programmatic improvements, including among them the Urban and Innovative Production Grants and the Compost and Food Waste Reduction Program
- Programs that invest in rural communities, like the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural America, Rural Cooperative Development Grants, Rural Business Development Grants, Business and Industry Loan Programs, and the Rural Energy for America Program
- Programs that provide critical training to next generation farmers, like the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach, including the 2501 Program and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, and the Food Safety Outreach Program
- Programs that help farmers access new market opportunities, like the Local Agriculture Market Program, including Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Programs, Regional Food System Partnership Programs, and Value-Added Producer Grants
- Agricultural research and extension programs, like the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, Organic Transitions Program, and Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
- Programs that connect our most vulnerable communities to fresh, local food, like the Community Food Project Grants, Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program
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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more: https://sustainableagriculture.net/
The post Release: Budget Bill Steamrolls Farm Bill Future, Slashing Billions appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
WASHINGTON, May 13, 2025 – As friends and families get ready to kick off summer by firing up the grill and serving foods at a cookout, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) shares some tips to keep your celebrations safe.
(London, U.K., May 12, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins concluded her first day in the United Kingdom during her trade delegation visit. This visit comes after President Donald J. Trump announced last week, on the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe, a historic U.K.
In a move reminiscent of past disruptions but at a much larger scale, the Trump administration is implementing widespread staffing cuts across federal agencies. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is facing a significant reduction, expecting approximately 30,000 USDA positions to be eliminated. About 16,000 employees have already accepted deferred resignation offers. This downsizing – particularly when coupled with office closures and relocations – threatens to undermine USDA’s capacity to serve America’s farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.
Farmers already face long wait times at local USDA offices, often going months without knowing if their loans are approved or waiting for reimbursement for conservation expenses. Staffing cuts will greatly exacerbate these already long delays. While Congress can continue to authorize funds for farmers to cope with ongoing natural and market disasters, many may needlessly suffer without the staff to run the programs and deliver the funds.
This post examines the disruption likely to result from USDA staffing cuts – whether by office closure, relocation, or resignations – by highlighting the lessons learned from staff losses during the previous Trump administration.
The 2019 ERS and NIFA Relocations: A Cautionary TaleTo understand the potential consequences of forthcoming staff cuts, this post looks back to 2019, when two of the USDA’s research agencies—the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)—were relocated from Washington, DC to Kansas City, Missouri. The result was not cost savings or improved efficiency. Instead, the relocation gutted the agencies, leading to the departure of hundreds of experienced staff, the loss of decades of institutional knowledge, and a severe and lasting drop in productivity and ability to serve farmers and stakeholders.
The loss of experienced staff dramatically cut the productivity of both agencies for several years following relocation, with the number of economic reports published by ERS dropping by half, and NIFA being delayed in getting funds to land grant universities and unable to review scientific proposals. These productivity losses left farmers and stakeholders without vital information to make decisions and threatened the future of American agricultural innovation.
With similar but more widespread cuts now looming, it is critical to learn from this recent history before the damage is repeated—at even greater scale. ERS and NIFA lost productivity from a relocation, some of which they were able to eventually recoup with additional hiring. The forthcoming reduction in force (RIF) will be much more devastating. The entire purpose of the RIF is to reduce staffing numbers, an alarming prospect for an agency that is already understaffed and struggling to effectively serve farmers and ranchers as we enter a turbulent and challenging time.
A Misguided Relocation That Hollowed Out the USDA’s Research CapacityIn August 2018, then Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced his decision to move both of the USDA’s major research agencies, ERS and NIFA, out of Washington, DC. After soliciting Expressions of Interest from potential new sites, in June 2019, it was announced that Kansas City, Missouri, had been chosen as the new location. Despite outcries from advocates and staff, NIFA and ERS officially transitioned to Kansas City on October 1, 2019. Subsequent inquiries from the USDA Inspector General concluded that the relocations likely violated federal laws requiring Congressional approval.
The damage from the relocation was swift. Both agencies lost more than half of their staff during the relocations, and it took years for staffing numbers to recover. As of September 2024, ERS staffing levels remained 15% below pre-location levels. While NIFA staffing numbers have recovered, the loss of experienced staff has had long-lasting consequences for both divisions.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report later confirmed that USDA did not follow best practices for evaluating the relocation, underestimated costs, and failed to account for the massive attrition and disruptions to agency operations.
Data from FedScope, Office of Personnel Management
Lost ProductivityThe departure of experienced staff translated directly into reduced performance and productivity. According to the GAO, ERS’s output of reports and peer-reviewed journal articles declined by half from 2018 to 2020. A representative from the ERS staff union said:
This lost productivity meant the loss or delay of several vital reports that the agricultural industry relies on.
NIFA faced its own productivity losses, taking an average of 30 additional days to process and fund grant proposals in 2019 compared to the previous year. Several key grant programs had to suspend review processes entirely due to a lack of staff, as was the case with the Sustainable Agricultural Systems initiative. Perhaps most alarmingly, NIFA had not processed any payments for capacity grants to land-grant universities and other research partners until six months into fiscal year 2020. The GAO directly attributed this delay to the departure of seven out of eight staff from the agency’s budget division.
Both divisions experienced widespread workflow disruptions and lost productivity after staff losses, and these disruptions echoed for years. Each canceled or delayed ERS report meant a group of stakeholders left without essential information to help them navigate market decisions, and each delayed grant review or payment undermined agricultural innovation.
Lost Experience and Institutional KnowledgeERS and NIFA did not just lose staff numbers during the relocation, they lost deeply embedded institutional knowledge and leadership capacity. ERS, in particular, lost many of its most seasoned staff. At ERS, 36% of the employees who left in 2019 had ten or more years of experience. NIFA lost primarily mid-career staff, with 24% of departing employees having 5-9 years of experience and 21% having ten or more years of experience.
These departures changed the entire composition of the divisions. By 2020, just 19% of NIFA employees had more than a decade of experience, down from over 50% before the relocation. At ERS, by 2021, just 37% of employees had more than a decade of experience, down from 71% before the relocation. Politico reporting quoted an ERS researcher about the loss of experienced staff:
“It’s a gap that we can’t fill. We can’t hire fresh PhDs and fill that gap.”
Data from FedScope, Office of Personnel Management
Early reporting suggests that the 16,000 USDA employees who have already taken the two deferred resignation offers include many experienced staff with multiple years of service and irreplaceable expertise. The loss of these experienced employees means that a wide range of programs to protect food and biosecurity, provide services to farmers, and other vital support for stakeholders will function less effectively and efficiently.
Current Threats Mirror Past MistakesThe current staffing cuts threaten to replicate these past mistakes on a larger and more long-term scale. With the USDA’s workforce already stretched thin, further reductions could severely impair the department’s ability to support farmers and implement critical programs. The loss of experienced staff and institutional knowledge will have long-lasting effects on American agriculture’s resilience and innovation.
The USDA employs staff in every state, territory, and the District of Columbia. USDA staff are experienced and dedicated public servants, with 47% of staff having been at the agency for more than ten years. These are the experts who administer farm bill programs, assist producers through NRCS and FSA offices, and implement research initiatives critical to our agricultural future. Their departure would erode federal capacity for years to come.
Conclusion: Don’t Repeat 2019The staffing cuts underway today dwarf the ERS and NIFA relocations. With 30,000 USDA jobs – roughly 30% of current staff – on the line, there is the potential for devastation across all mission areas: commodity programs, disaster relief, research, nutrition, rural development, food safety, and more. At a time when farmers and ranchers face record natural disasters and market volatility, they need a robust and experienced USDA workforce more than ever.
The consequences of USDA losing its staff are already well documented. The relocation of ERS and NIFA drained talent and crippled productivity, conditions now at risk of repeating, with impacts that will be felt by farmers in every state. Farmers rely on USDA programs. Without the people to run these programs, even the best policy is just paper.
The post When USDA Cuts Staff, Farmers Pay the Price: Lessons from the ERS and NIFA Relocations appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
(Washington, D.C., May 13, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins today announced the appointment of Erin Morris as the next Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which operates under the Department’s Marketing and Regulatory Programs mission area.
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