USDA, and therefore farmers, hit hard by DOGE cuts

I am so sick of a certain megalomaniacal twerp from South Africa who thinks he’s God Almighty.

Mass terminations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are “crippling” the agency, upending federal workers’ lives and leaving farmers and rural communities without needed support, according to interviews with 15 recently fired employees stationed across the U.S.

Since taking power Jan. 20, the Trump administration has quickly frozen funding and fired federal workers en masse. USDA terminations started Feb. 13, the day Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was sworn in. Rollins welcomed the quasi-governmental Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, to find parts of the USDA budget to cut.

Terminated employees helped farmers build irrigation systems, battled invasive diseases that could “completely decimate” crops that form whole industries and assisted low-income seniors in rural areas in fixing leaky roofs. That work will now be significantly delayed — perhaps indefinitely — as remaining employees’ workloads grow, the employees said. - Investigate Midwest

Climate smart commodities?

Give 'em a way to greenwash...we'll see how it works out.

When Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack first announced USDA would spend $1 billion to support projects that produce “climate smart commodities” in February, there was confusion. What exactly is a “climate smart commodity” (CSC)? There is no current market, label or recognized standard. USDA suggested only that a CSC must reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon. No details about how much GHG must be reduced, how long carbon must be sequestered, or how efforts might be measured and by whom. Last week, the USDA expanded the program and awarded $2.8 billion in an initial round of 70 grants (more to come) for CSC projects, with an upcoming second round to reach $3.5 billion in total.

Now 70 different projects, all with different definitions and approaches, can claim the USDA-approved “climate smart commodity” moniker. The mushiness of positive words without clear definition, standards, goals or independent verification has long been used by agribusiness and food companies to their own ends From labels like “natural,” “sustainable,” and more recently “regenerative,” companies frequently make claims about farm and food products without having to meet clear standards or independent verification. Such terms stand in contrast to strong protocols and standards established under certified organic, for example...

As a result, it wasn’t surprising that a who’s who of agribusiness and food companies jumped at the USDA’s open invitation to define a “climate smart commodity.” - IATP

CRP acreage has been going in the wrong direction

There's an effort to change that, but I'm not sure that enough "oomph" will be put behind it.

Since 2007, the number of acres the government has paid farmers and ranchers to conserve has declined.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program subsidizes the removal of environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production.

But, between 2007 and 2016, the enrollment cap set by the farm bill shrank, allowing fewer farmers to participate, according to an agency report. Most of that land was returned to producing crops.

In April, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA will expand this program, among other measures, in an effort to mitigate climate change. - The Counter

Trump's USDA is something else

A very bad something else.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has doubled down on its refusal to let schools serve free meals to all students this fall—despite rising food insecurity and pleas from anti-hunger advocates, school nutrition officials, and lawmakers...

Then in March, as the economy contracted and unemployment soared, USDA issued regulatory waivers permitting all schools to serve free breakfast and lunch to all children, including those not of school-age or enrolled in private institutions. School nutrition officials welcomed the move, which allowed many districts to serve as de facto hunger relief organizations within their communities. USDA said that initial waivers were possible thanks to a boost in funding from the Families First coronavirus relief bill, but that it needed another infusion of cash to extend them.

This means that schools will soon have to begin charging for meals again and tracking meal debt among kids who can’t pay. - The Counter

Update: A bunch of Republicans, including Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-MN), signed on to a letter asking the USDA to reconsider. They are however apparently making little, if any, effort to see that more money is forthcoming.

Update #2: Schools will now be allowed to offer free lunch to everyone, "as funding allows."

Of course Trump & Co. have no problem with people going hungry

So far it doesn't look like they're going to back down on this.

The Agriculture Department (USDA) is restricting key flexibility in SNAP (food stamps) that the President and Congress gave states in the Families First Act of March to help them manage an applications influx due to COVID-19 and the recession — saying states must return to “normal operations,” even though current circumstances are anything but normal.

SNAP responded quickly, as it’s designed to do, to the sharp rise in unemployment and food insecurity, especially among households with children. Caseloads jumped by more than 6 million people or about 17 percent nationally between February and May, as household incomes fell precipitously. SNAP could manage this unprecedented increase largely because Families First allowed USDA to let states temporarily change their SNAP procedures to make it easier for people to receive food assistance while state SNAP agencies operate remotely.

...as COVID-19 hot spots continue to flare up and some areas that began reopening reverse course, individual states continue to see rising need for SNAP. States that may have hoped the crush of SNAP applications was temporary are now planning for a long period of increased need while facing budget shortfalls and long-term economic uncertainty. - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities