Ag Policy Blog

The Trump administration has extended the unofficial comment period on its plan to reorganize the Agriculture Department until September 30 after several commenters urged Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to publish the reorganization plan in the Federal Register and start a formal comment period.

On August 1, Rollins opened a 30-day comment period on the reorganization plan she announced on July 24, which would move 2,600 of the 4,600 USDA positions in the Washington metropolitan area to five hubs around the country, as well as close the South Building across from USDA headquarters in Washington. The plan also includes closing Braddock Place in Alexandria, Va., where the Food and Nutrition Service is located, and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland.

That news release said, "all stakeholders, including USDA employees, members of Congress, and agricultural and nutrition partners, are encouraged to provide feedback by emailing reorganization@usda.gov." The deadline was listed as August 31, but the last sentence of the release posted online now says, "The comment period is open through September 30, 2025."

The deadline was extended beyond comments made last week at the Farm Progress Show by Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden that USDA would be collecting feedback until Sept. 1

Democrats in Congress have urged Rollins to formalize the reorganization process and several commenters have sent copies of their comments to DTN in which they urged Rollins to slow down the process and formalize it.

Kathleen Merrigan, an Agriculture deputy secretary in the Obama administration, said, "Review of such a consequential reorganization plan should be informed by a formal comment process through the Federal Register, consistent with the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946. Collecting comments through a black box email on a USDA website is no substitute and disrespects USDA stakeholders."

"I urge you to post a notice in the Federal Register and provide, at minimum, a 60-day comment period. It is a time-tested procedure that facilitates fair and transparent decision making," Merrigan said.

Sarah Vogel, a former elected Democratic agriculture commissioner in North Dakota and a lawyer who has won several lawsuits against USDA, wrote, "The secretary should re-read the laws that provide the framework for this reorganization" because the information contained in the July 24 memorandum "falls far short" of the legal requirements for reorganization.

Vogel's 12-page submission includes many questions about whether USDA can fulfill its mission under the proposed reorganization.

Rep. Robert "Bobby" Scott, D-Va., the ranking member on the House Education and Workforce Committee, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., the ranking member on the Ed and Workforce Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, asked for detailed answers by Thursday on how USDA will fulfill its obligations to administer child nutrition programs.

The Ed and Workforce Committee has jurisdiction over child nutrition programs including the school meals program that serves more than 30 million children a day and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) that serves about half the mothers and small children in the country.

Georgia Machell, president and CEO of the National WIC Association, said, "We are deeply concerned that this reorganization would dismantle the very infrastructure that keeps WIC running, from ensuring states receive funding on time to providing guidance and technical assistance."

Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, said, "We are deeply concerned that this proposed reorganization -- which was developed without the input of Congress or relevant stakeholders -- is more than a relocation or consolidation but rather the dismantling of a department with critical responsibilities."

American Agricultural Movement President David Senter noted in his newsletter Saturday that Vaden told the Senate Agriculture Committee that USDA employees leaving Washington will be better off because the cost of living will be lower in the hubs to which USDA says it will move them.

But Senter added that what Vaden didn't say "was that the employees that move will have to pay all their own moving expenses as well will get a pay cut based on the lower cost of living."

"I think this moving employees to the hubs is a way to further reduce the number of USDA employees because I'm guessing there will be a sizeable percentage that will resign rather than uproot their family," Senter wrote.

A coalition of bee scientists and beekeeping industry officials said relocating the USDA Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory would disrupt essential services and industry-supporting research "amid the highest colony losses --55.6% -- in U.S. history."

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

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