The first few weeks

USDA funds to farmers, businesses, nonprofits and universities are still on ice. Also, the Trump administration is moving to dramatically shrink the USDA workforce.

Greetings! Welcome to my free newsletter. I’m a reporter at POLITICO where I cover food and agriculture politics and policy. This will be where I occasionally share what I’ve been writing and thinking. Expect an email about once a month — although I admit I am behind schedule!

A lot has changed since I wrote my first newsletter right before Inauguration Day. The Trump administration is moving incredibly fast to implement its agenda on all fronts. In this edition, I’ll try to catch you up on the latest in food and agriculture world.

A little background on me for new subscribers: I got my start in journalism as a writing fellow for The American Prospect, where I wrote about immigration, labor and criminal justice. Then, I worked for The Capitol Forum covering anti-monopoly policy before moving to POLITICO. I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for more than five years, and I grew up outside of Cleveland.

I attended USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum in February and some employees from the Agricultural Research Service had the coolest display of citrus varieties.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS: Within days of assuming the presidency, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies across the government to freeze billions in federal spending on environmental, climate, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

While the administration maintained that this funding freeze did not halt direct payments to individuals, thousands of farmers soon called foul. Major conservation and other cost-share or grant programs were put on ice, sending farmers and ranchers scrambling as the bills began to pile up.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who was confirmed two weeks ago, has now released $20 million in some of this funding after reviewing it, and said that she was freeing up even more spending. But some farmers say they’re still not getting money they’re owed — and they sued USDA to demand it.

Farmers emphasized to me that this was not just grant money. To participate in many of these programs, like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, farmers and ranchers front the money, and then after an inspection from a USDA employee confirming they held up their end of the contract, USDA disburses the funds. In other words, farmers made business decisions, took risks or expanded their businesses based on a promise that the government would help shoulder the cost. Sometimes, those decisions involved farmers taking out a private loan to fulfill their end of a contract. A lot of farmers don’t have the cash if the government doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain.

And, even if the Trump administration ultimately releases a lot of this money back to farmers, farmers need to make payments on loans and buy seed and fertilizer now. The delay at USDA could force farmers to borrow additional money at unfavorable terms, yet another unexpected cost.

FIRING/REHIRING: One of the most important stories right now is the purge of thousands of federal employees, including at the Agriculture Department. After urging employees to take a so-called “buyout” offer, the administration — in close consultation with Elon Musk’s DOGE — then moved to fire thousands of employees still on “probationary” status.

As I first reported, even a critical office responding to the worsening outbreak of bird flu lost 25 percent of its staff in the firings. USDA admitted to “accidentally” firing them among other employees handling the federal bird flu response and vowed to hire them back. But it’s not as easy to rehire workers as it is to fire them. (The administration also fired nuclear safety workers and is trying to coax them back.)

While many of these workers had only been hired within the last year, many had also recently been promoted, or made a lateral move, or their probationary status was two or even three years, in the case of some USDA scientists I spoke to. One fired U.S. Forest Service employee told me she had recently changed jobs after 10 years as a federal employee in order to take a role where she would have health insurance.

While several federal courts have now ordered the administration to rehire probationary employees it fired, the administration is also teeing up “reduction in force” plans, the government’s term for layoffs. That means that many of the same probationary employees could lose their jobs again.

Other stories I wrote:

• USDA slashed funding for two popular pandemic-era programs that gave money to schools, food banks and child care facilities to buy food from local farms. This was the most-read story on politico.com last week.

• RFK Jr. had an awkward meeting with some of the world’s biggest food companies. (With my colleague Adam Cancryn)

• USDA was ordered to scrub climate change from its website. (With my colleague Zack Colman)

• Thousands of Forest Service employees were fired as part of the federal employee purge. (With my colleague Jordan Wolman) My colleagues Natalie Fertig and Jordan reported that the firings, despite excluding workers with firefighters in their title, are expected to have a drastic effect on preparation for wildfire season and even combating a blaze. (Paywalled)

• Like the bird flu employees, USDA is now working to bring back fired loan employees with the Farm Service Agency. USDA is commonly referred to as the “lender of last resort” for farmers but FSA is notoriously understaffed. Lawmakers of both parties have pushed it to hire more people, and the Biden administration did ramp up hiring in response. But FSA jobs often pay half what these workers could get in the private sector, so some fired employees are opting not to return to what’s now viewed as an unstable job. (Paywalled)

• USDA paused — and then after public outcry — restarted a popular scholarship program for high-achieving students who attend an HBCU and plan to study natural resources, food systems and other related disciplines. (Paywalled)

Latest appearances:

I was also on CBS News to talk about the end of two USDA local food programs and I interviewed Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith for POLITICO’s agriculture event. My colleague Meredith Lee Hill interviewed Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska for the same event.

Excited to cook:

I admittedly haven’t been cooking as much in the last month or so but I really want to make this French Onion Orecchiette. (Recipe from New York Times Cooking)

Currently reading:

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (1995). Haunting.

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter,and Bluesky. Do you think I should join another social media platform? Tell me!