Compiled by Paige Nelson, field editor
 

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ Action on Day 1

On her first full day in office Feb. 14, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins took bold action, the agency reported, to advance President Trump’s agenda and ensure the USDA serves American farmers, ranchers, loggers and the agriculture community. Among her first-day initiatives: 

 

1. Issued a memorandum to rescind all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and celebrations. Instead, USDA will reprioritize unity, equality, meritocracy and color-blind policies.
2. Sent a letter to the nation’s governors, outlining her vision for USDA and invited them to participate in a new “laboratories for innovation” initiative to create bold solutions to long-ignored challenges.
3. Sent a notice to state leaders encouraging them to participate in pilot programs to reform the food stamp program (SNAP). In particular, she outlined reform principles, such as establishing more robust work requirements.
4. Convened a briefing on avian influenza and reviewed options for a comprehensive strategy to combat the disease and lower the price of eggs. Rollins plans to finalize and implement this strategy in short order.
5. Delivered a video message and a letter of gratitude to U.S. Forest Service firefighters for their recent heroic actions to save lives and curb the devastating wildfires in California.
6. Reviewed and implemented findings from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to optimize the USDA workforce. See full details on the USDA website.
7. Hosted media availability at the White House, where she discussed key priorities for American farmers and ranchers, addressing food prices, food stamp reform and working with DOGE to optimize USDA.
8. Rollins addressed more than 20,000 attendees at the National Farm Machinery Show and Tractor Pull in Kentucky.

R-Calf USA praises reintroduction of mandatory country-of-origin labeling legislation for beef

On Feb. 5 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced the American Beef Labeling Act to reinstate mandatory country-of-origin labeling (sometimes referred to as mCOOL) for beef.

The legislation would insert “beef” and “ground beef” back into the existing mandatory country-of-origin labeling law that requires country-of-origin labels on many food commodities, including meat from chickens, sheep and goats.

The legislation, however, delays the implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef for up to one year, allowing the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture six months to develop the means of reinstating mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef in a way that complies with the applicable rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The initial six-month period is then followed by a second six-month period during which the USTR and ag secretary may implement mandatory country-of-origin labeling by the means they have developed.

If the USTR and the ag secretary have not already implemented mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef one year after the legislation’s enactment, the legislation, as proposed, would take effect on that one-year anniversary.

“This multisponsored, bipartisan Thune/Booker mCOOL bill is critically needed to restore competition to the nation’s broken cattle and beef markets marked by inflated beef prices paid by consumers and depressed cattle prices paid to U.S. cattle producers,” said Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA. “Only with mCOOL for beef can cattle producers compete in their own domestic market where packers and importers — and not cattle producers and consumers — currently decide how much foreign beef they will import into the U.S. market to displace domestic beef production and reduce demand for cattle exclusively born and raised in the United States.”

U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), John Fetterman (D-PA) and John Hoeven (R-ND) cosponsored the American Beef Labeling Act.

Read the full text of the legislation.

Read the full release.

Kansas Senator Moran lays out legislative proposal to move Food for Peace program to USDA

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) Feb. 13 spoke on the Senate floor about legislation he introduced with Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND), Roger Marshall, (R-KS) and Rep. Tracey Mann (KS-01) that would move the administration of the Food for Peace program to the USDA. Moran also highlighted the importance of Food for Peace for national security, feeding the hungry and providing a market for American farmers.

“In conjunction with the President’s action, I’ve introduced a bill with Sen. John Hoeven and Sen. Roger Marshall and Rep. Tracey Mann to move Food for Peace from the turbulent USAID and move it to the Department of Agriculture in an effort to prevent waste and bring the program closer to farmers that depend upon it,” said Moran. “By placing Food for Peace under USDA’s authority, we can make certain that the program is in good hands and can continue to bring revenue to American agriculture.”

“In rural America, food assistance programs like Food for Peace put American-grown products in the hands of the hungry, and this food is a tangible extension of the hard work and dedication of farmers and ranchers,” concluded Moran. “I’m pleased to help find ways to make our delivery of food aid more effective, more efficient and remove the challenges and things that we’ve seen that are so disturbing. Food for Peace bolsters the farmers who feed us, creates a more stable world and feeds the hungry.”

Read the full release.

Rollins takes actions to optimize USDA

On Feb. 14, Ag Secretary Rollins addressed more than 400 USDA staffers, stakeholders and friends pledging to bring greater efficiency to USDA to ensure it better serves American farmers, ranchers and the agriculture community. She reviewed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) findings and welcomed the opportunity to optimize the USDA workforce and stop wasteful spending.

Since Jan. 20, USDA has begun a comprehensive review of contracts, personnel and employee trainings, and DEI programs.

USDA announced the first tranche in a series of reforms.

Contracts

USDA terminated 78 contracts, which totaled more than $132 million. Additionally, more than 1,000 contracts are currently under review for potential termination. Here are 10 examples of the contracts USDA recently terminated or proposed procurements that were discontinued before they went into effect:

1. media contracts, including Politico subscriptions: $2.77 million;
2. DEI onboarding specialist: $374,000;
3. diversity dialogue workshops: $254,000;
4. international development for historically underrepresented communities: $298,000;
5. Brazilian forest and gender consultant: $229,000;
6. Women and Forest Carbon Initiative Mentorship Program: $121,000;
7. African and Middle Eastern and Latin America and Caribbean Regions for training, education and access to professional and economic opportunities for women and increasing their participation in climate change adaptation activities: $91,000;
8. Central American gender assessment consultant: $29,000;
9. neighborhood electric vehicle utility van: $33,000; and
10. Hawaii conference room rental for 100-person USDA meeting on biodiversity: $11,000.

Workforce optimization

USDA is pursuing an aggressive plan to optimize its workforce by eliminating positions that are no longer necessary, bringing its workforce back to the office, and relocating employees out of the National Capital region into our nation’s heartland to allow our rural communities to flourish.

During the next few days and weeks, Rollins will review thousands of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements and spending across the agency to ensure that every dollar is spent as effectively as possible to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.

Per the President’s directives, Rollins will lead a new era of USDA to ensure that it is the most efficient, nimble and innovative department to serve American agriculture since it was established by President Abraham Lincoln.

Read the full release.

Editor’s note: Paige Nelson is a freelance writer and cattlewoman from Rigby, Idaho.

Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 17, No. 2-B