News in brief:
– USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins defended major budget cuts and staff reductions at the USDA, assuring no local farm offices will close.
– The cuts could eliminate key international food aid programs, with discussions underway to shift oversight of Food for Peace from USAID to the USDA.
The United States Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, has defended sweeping budget cuts and staffing reductions at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
She told a Senate panel that the changes will improve efficiency without closing the agency’s 4,500 local offices that support American farmers.
Rollins confirmed that over 15,000 USDA employees have left under financial incentive programmes introduced during President Donald Trump’s administration. The downsizing effort, which included support from billionaire Elon Musk, aligns with Trump’s broader goal to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
Trump’s latest budget proposal seeks to slash $4.5 billion from the USDA. The cuts target conservation, rural development, and agricultural research efforts.
The Farm Services Agency (FSA), which manages farm loans and technical support, could lose $358 million. Around 1,100 FSA employees have left, with two-thirds of them at county-level offices.
Despite the reduced number of staff, Rollins assured lawmakers that no FSA offices would close while emphasising plans to expand online support tools to offset reduced in-person services.
She added that the USDA is actively recruiting to fill critical roles, including FSA staff, wildland firefighters, and inspectors for animal disease control. She also mentioned that hundreds of voluntary departure requests were denied due to the importance of the positions.
Controversially, the budget proposes eliminating international food aid programmes such as Food for Peace, Food for Progress, and the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program. Rollins revealed early discussions with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about transferring Food for Peace oversight from USAID to the USDA.
She also hinted at a major announcement in the coming weeks regarding a potential relocation of the USDA headquarters outside Washington, D.C.
These international food aid initiatives have reached billions of people in hundreds of countries. Although some changed from supplying American-grown food to providing cash assistance to countries in need to purchase their own food.
