Dairy Revenue Protection

Impact of DOGE Cuts on USDA Staff and Programs

Thu, 08 May 2025 13:14:22 GMT

Although the efforts of staff working for the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE) have not drawn banner headlines at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the way that other departments and agencies have been affected, the implementation of the DOGE principles of cutting staff numbers and budgetary costs for programs operated or overseen by USDA have already had significant impacts.

A recent Reuters article found that around 15,000 of the approximately 106,000 USDA employees have taken some form of buyout to leave the agencies they once worked for, some of them for several decades. These buyouts involved modest cash payments and a commitment to putting those employees on extended paid leave, for many employees across the federal government starting on May 1st, until their resignation takes effect on September 30, 2025. This approach was called the Deferred Resignation/Retirement Program or DRP. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed the Reuters estimate in testimony on Capitol Hill on May 6th.

This figure does not include the nearly 5,700 staff across USDA who were fired due to their probationary status back in February but were ordered to be reinstated to their jobs in March by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board for at least a 45 day period while the Board members continued their investigation.

The Reuters piece listed USDA employees taking the buyout by mission area rather than at the individual agency level. The largest tally was for employees in the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area, where nearly 4,100 staff have voluntarily left their positions at either the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the Risk Management Agency (RMA), or the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Just over 4,000 employees have left the Natural Resource and Environment (NRE) mission area, which consists solely of the Forest Service (FS). The Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area, consisting of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and the Economic Research Service (ERS) has lost exactly 1,600 employees through the buyout, and the Rural Development mission area has lost 1,538 staff. The remaining mission areas and staff and departmental offices have lost a total of 3,905 staff.

The process of reducing the staffing level at USDA is evidently still unfinished. Late last month, Secretary Rollins indicated that she would be announcing a further restructuring of USDA sometime in May. This effort will include further terminations of USDA employees through a formal Reduction in Force (RIF), as well as moving many USDA employees out of the Washington DC area to work at one of three regional hubs, whose locations have not yet been identified publicly.

It is too early to assess in a quantitative way the impact of these staff reductions on how USDA will function in the future. However, it seems reasonable to assert that with many USDA employees having to shoulder a larger workload after their colleagues’ departures, the time it will take to process many kinds of program applications and claims will be extended. It is important to note that nearly two-thirds of the staff departures under the most recent DRP window worked previously at the USDA agencies which have the most direct interactions with farmers, ranchers, and other rural residents at the local level, namely staff for NRCS, FSA, RMA, RD, and the FS. In any case, the full impact cannot be known until the details of the upcoming restructuring plan are announced and implemented.

In addition, the DOGE process has also resulted in the freezing and at least in some cases cancellations of many USDA projects approved and funded under the previous administration. For example, USDA cancelled funds for a Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program in March, resulting in a total loss of $1 billion in funding for local food purchases by schools and food banks.

Last month, USDA cancelled all but 19 of the 135 projects operating under the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities Initiative, which were a variety of pilot projects intended to develop new ways to encourage farmers and ranchers to adopt certain conservation practices which are known to sequester carbon or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those farmers and ranchers were then to be provided opportunities to benefit from labeling regimes which might earn them a higher price for their commodities produced using the new practices. Secretary Brooks referred to this effort as a ‘slush fund’ for NGO’s, although participants in the cancelled projects will be offered the opportunity to re-apply for the funds if they meet certain new criteria, including guarantees that a significant portion of the funds (65 percent) go directly to enrolled farmers. The details of the process under which this re-application can take place have not yet been disclosed.

On May 1, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), released a so-called ‘skinny budget’ proposal for fiscal year 2026, which provides highlights of how President Trump would propose to fund annual discretionary expenditures for the U.S. government. The detailed budget documents are supposed to be released later this spring. The President’s request seeks to cut discretionary spending at USDA by a net of nearly $4.6 billion for FY26, including nearly $1 billion in cuts to research funding at the four REE agencies plus the Forest Service, more than $750 million in cuts to conservation technical assistance at NRCS, $721 million in cuts to Rural Development programs, $783 million in cuts to Forest Service operations, and $358 million in cuts to FSA staffing. Congress is currently holding hearings to hear from the various Cabinet Secretaries about the proposals relating to their Departments, although Congress is not obligated to accept the President’s budget proposals.

Rollins Says USDA Will Announce Application Process for $21 Billion in Disaster Aid Within Days

Wed, 07 May 2025 18:44:01 GMT

In her first hearing on Capitol Hill since the confirmation process earlier this year, Secretary Brooke Rollins faced the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, fielding questions on everything from USDA’s bold budget cuts and frozen funding to the fate of the nearly $21 billion in disaster aid.

Rollins fiercely defended the cuts, continuing to argue that it is a way to make USDA more effective and more efficient. She also told the committee that farmers will be able to sign up for the disaster aid by the end of May.

Congress approved the disaster aid on Dec. 21, 2024. While the $10 billion in Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) was passed the same day, it was separate and came with a clear deadline on when USDA had to disperse those funds. In the hearing this week, Rollins admitted the disaster aid program has been more complicated to roll out.

“That one’s a little more complicated than the ECAP, the disaster or the emergency relief payments, but we’re really close and within a matter of days or weeks, certainly by the end of this month, that money will begin moving,” Rollins said on Tuesday.

The nearly $21 billion in disaster aid targets agricultural losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024, which includes:

Droughts
Hurricanes
Floods
Wildfires
And other extreme weather events.

Of those funds, $2 billion is earmarked for livestock losses attributed to droughts wildfires and floods. There is also an allocation of $220 million that will be distributed through block grants to smaller agricultural states with limited farm income and acreage.

“We are within days of announcing the application process,” Rollins said. “Of course, that’s a little more complicated because we don’t have the specifics, and it isn’t, as [Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.] mentioned, in North Dakota, 15,794 of your farmers and ranchers have received money through that first tranche, through the first $10 billion, the emergency aid. On the weather-related programs, that application opens in the next week or two. And we will be moving very, very quickly.”

.@SecRollins testifies before Congress: "When farmers prosper, rural America prospers." pic.twitter.com/rXwV12JPDD
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 6, 2025

According to Pro Farmer, the disaster aid is intended to cover losses in revenue, production quality, and infrastructure for crops, livestock and timber. And most of the aid is expected to be administered through USDA’s Emergency Relief Program (ERP), which has been used for similar disaster relief in previous years. However, USDA has indicated the new program will be more farmer-friendly than the Biden administration’s implementation of the last ag disaster funds.

Rollins says the rollout of the disaster aid funds is “a long time coming,” bacause it is related to disasters that happened as long as two years ago.

“And so ensuring that we get that out as quickly as we possibly can with the team that we have in place,” Rollins said. “I’m really proud of, I believe, how efficiently and how quickly the team moved out that first tranche. And I believe that you’ll see the same sort of efficiency and effectiveness with the second tranche, so it’s within the coming weeks.”

Rollins Fiercely Defends Cuts at USDA

Also in the hearing, Rollins defended recent budget and DOGE cuts, saying her team is eliminating what she called wasteful DEI spending, fraud and abuse in all USDA programs. She argued the plan is to rebuild USDA to put farmers first.

Rollins also discussed some frozen funds at the agency and when a review of them will be completed.

“We are working around the clock, going line by line, we’re down to the final 5 billion out of, I believe, almost 20 billion of frozen funds, but $5 billion is a lot of money,” Rollins said. “And when you think about that in terms of grant or contract and moving that out quickly, we’re very helpful to keep moving through that very, very quickly and have that done very soon.”

Rollins was also asked about the 15,000 USDA employees who have taken buyout offers from the federal government . Reports show that accounts for nearly USDA’s total workforece, and impacts farmer-facing agencies such as Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency.

“The 15,000 number, it is less than 15% of our total workforce,” Rollins said. “I realize that’s still a very, very big number. But I think it’s important to realize in the context that every year USDA, through attrition loses between 8,000 and 10,000 employees. So, it’s a massive government agency, but they’re refilled. Well, and that’s what we are looking to refill. The front liners, that’s I was talking about right now. So whether it’s FSA, APHIS, the Wildland Firefighters, those are through a memorandum I just signed, we are actively looking and recruiting to fill those positions that are integral to the efforts and the key front line.”

Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., followed up and asked, “So, you let people go, and you’re looking for new people to fill the positions that they had experienced in?”

“We’re having those discussions right now,” Rollins said. “We are working with all of you around the country, in your states. We believe our firefighters are operationally ready for wildfire season. Our FSA offices, we are making things more efficient, but bringing on new people that could potentially be a game changer in those offices.”

The workforce reduction is part of the federal government’s current Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), which is the voluntary program that allows eligible federal employees to resign in advance while continuing to receive pay and benefits until Sept. 30.

Rollins then clarified and explained the 15,000 USDA employees who accepted the buyouts, weren’t employees who were fired, they were resignations.

“None of those people were fired,” she added. “So, if they want to come back, and if they were in a key position, then we would love to have that conversation.”

Rollins said the latest round of DRPs, which happened in April, USDA didn’t accept some of the resignations, specifically if those employees were in what Rollins called “key positions,” which includes APHIS, FSA, etc.

“We are very intentionally approaching this,” she said. “Have we done it perfectly? No. Any type of whole scale change, and big effort to basically realign an entire government agency is difficult. And we know that, and we know it hasn’t been perfect, but we’re working every day to solve for a lot of this, and I think we’re making a lot of really good progress.”

USDA Spends $400 Million a Day on Food Assistance Programs

The other hot button topic during the hearing was food assistance. The secretary pointed out USDA spends more than $400 million a day on food assistance programs and said ending COVID-era funding programs doesn’t mean defunding food assistance.

You can listen to her pointed comments in the video below.

USDA alone spends $400+ MILLION each day on food assistance programs.

Ending COVID-era funding programs doesn’t defund food assistance. It ensures we’re good stewards of taxpayer dollars. pic.twitter.com/3lT7Fu6or9
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) May 6, 2025

FBN Spins Off Insurance Business

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 20:34:49 GMT

In the past few weeks, FBN transitioned its insurance business to Patriot Growth Services, ranked as the 26th largest broker in the U.S. by Business Insurance.

What was once known as FBN Insurance will now be known as Momentum Ag.

“We are thrilled to join the Patriot family. With the launch of Momentum Ag, we are creating a unique agriculture insurance agency rooted in white-glove service, while delivering a technology-enabled experience for our customers,” said Lucas Strom, President and Founding Partner of Momentum Ag. “Our collective team has over 500 years of experience in the industry, and we have strong relationships with our AIP and carrier partners to continue growing and supporting our clients across the country. Joining Patriot will expedite our growth goals and offer our customers more products and services than ever.”

Momentum Ag will offer crop, livestock, and health insurance products. The business has more than 50 employees, including 41 agents, and is licensed in all 50 states.

Patriot sees this acquisition as a strategy to expand its products into the agricultural insurance market.

“I’m excited to extend a warm welcome to the Momentum Ag team,” said Matt Gardner, Chairman and CEO of Patriot. “Momentum Ag’s integration into our rapidly expanding agriculture niche enhances our capacity to deliver superior solutions to our farm clients throughout the United States. Lucas and his team have built an extraordinary agency, and Patriot is eager to support them as they continue on their growth journey.”

Crop insurance products include:

ECO/SCO
Hail
Margin Protection
MPCI
STAX
Whole Farm Revenue Protection

Health insurance options include:

Enrollment for groups as small as 1 employee up to 500+
Nationwide provider networks
$0 preventive care and telemedicine visits
Optional enhanced ambulance coverage
Personal account representative to help with claims, billing and enrollment

Livestock insurance products include:

Animal Mortality
Annual Forage
Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP)
Livestock Gross Margin (LGM)
Livestock Risk Protection (LRP)
Pasture, Rangeland & Forage (PRF)