Fixing the US food system under the second Trump administration

It is no question that in order to create resilient, sustainable, and healthy food systems, significant changes must be made. As the new administration settles in, it’s important to take a look back at the work of the last administration, review momentum on these measures, and assess the opportunities and obstacles moving forward. In this post, we dive into regional food systems and fair markets, where the Biden administration left off, and what President Trump is likely (or not) to pick up based on his first seven days.

Four years ago, the Biden-Harris administration assumed office and leadership over a nation scarred and scared by an active pandemic. In the months prior, as the spread of Covid-19 compelled closures and cutbacks across most sectors, global supply chains had faltered and broken down, causing critical shortages of basic goods. Millions of Americans struggled to put food on the table, many for the first time in their lives. The economy was on a precipice, the fragility of our aging infrastructure revealed. We were a nation at risk.

The pandemic laid bare how vulnerable the globalized supply chains we relied upon had become, and how unprepared we were to respond to a crisis of this magnitude domestically. “Resiliency” became a keyword for the administration, which took swift action, issuing a slate of executive orders aimed at everything from taking on consolidation, to distributing vaccines, to tackling the climate crisis.

Fixing a broken food system made its way on to the list of the administration’s priorities. During the pandemic, small, local farms and food hubs were a sole source of key foods for many Americans when the grocery shelves that are typically stocked by imports remained bare for days and weeks. As larger systems failed, small farms and decentralized supply chains were suddenly recognized as essential. Perceiving the risks inherent in an increasingly globalized and consolidated food system, the Biden-Harris administration orchestrated the most significant investment of the 21st century in order to shore up our food system, exceeding more than $25 billion. Efforts were focused in four key areas: developing and strengthening climate-smart supply chains and regional markets; addressing consolidation; improving access to more nutritious foods; and supporting equitable economic growth.

(The following provides a synopsis of key ways the last administration invested in these issues–it must be noted that some of the announcements for these programs, or the program pages themselves, have been removed from the USDA’s website by the new administration, but other sources remain on the internet.)

The American Rescue Plan Act
Utilizing a Food System Transformation Framework, the federal government utilized ARPA to invest:

$12.1 billion in direct food and nutrition assistance to help address America’s high rates of food insecurity and hunger
$130 million for LAMP, the Local Agriculture Marketing Program to promote farmers markets, local food, and regional food systems partnerships
$100 million to FSIS to support small and very small meat processing plants
$80 million to support the dairy industry which has been plagued for years by extremely low farmer profitability
$4 billion toward debt relief to pay off burdensome debts held by underserved producers
$1.01 billion in funding to address the effects of longstanding historical discrimination across USDA programs
$550 million in for Projects Benefiting Underserved Agricultural Producers and Minority Serving Institutions that Create Career Development Opportunities for Next Generation Leaders
$420 million for the RFSI, the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, to strengthen America’s regional food systems supply chains
$400 million for development of Regional Food Business Centers to help ensure regional producers are viable, including direct grants to producers and TA providers

Pillars of the Food System Transformation Framework.

Commodity Credit Corporation

$2 billion for Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program, aimed at helping specialty crop producers expand markets and manage higher costs. Normally, federal assistance for specialty producers (e.g. fruit, vegetables, legumes, heritage grains, etc.) is very low compared to commodity crops like corn and soy, despite the fact that USDA dietary guidelines recommend that half of American’s diets should be fruits and vegetables.
$1.7 billion for purchase of locally and regionally produced foods and domestically produced foods for emergency food assistance, including $1.2 billion for local food purchases for food banks, schools, and child care facilities and $500 million to purchase domestic commodities for emergency food providers like food banks and food pantries.
$3.1 billion for the Climate Smart Commodities program to build new markets and revenue sources for producers undertaking environmentally beneficial practices

Rules for Fair & Competitive Markets
The Biden-Harris administration took on consolidation and anti-trust more substantially than any modern-day presidency.

Finalized the Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Rule under the Packers and Stockyards Act, prohibiting practices relating to discrimination, retaliation and deception in contracting, which will help producers and growers that have suffered from increasingly consolidated markets over the last 30 years by enhancing market integrity and ensuring fair access to economic opportunities
Finalized the Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments Final Rule, requiring large poultry processing companies to provide critical information about terms of their agreements to the poultry growers with whom they contract to raise birds, helping address the unfair contracting practices that poultry farmers have been subjected to for decades. They also finalized a payment system rule that requires processors to fairly and transparently pay broiler growers and limit excessively variable compensation.
Finalized the “Product of USA” rule to require that meat with Made in the USA or Produce of the USA actually be derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the US if they are to use those labels. For years, this rule was not finalized, which had allowed animal products born and raised in other countries to be labeled as a U.S. product (that’s right – you may be buying beef from Brazil without even knowing it!).

The total impact of these historical investments, some of which were still being rolled out earlier this month, is yet to be determined. However, under the leadership of the Trump-Vance administration, the extent to which these programs and funds will remain active and available is not clear.

As early Executive Orders indicate, the political priorities of the new administration are likely to be disruptive or even contradictory to much of what was undertaken by President Biden.

Most notably, of course, is the unprecedented and unexpected pause on all federal loans and grants that the White House announced yesterday evening. In an extremely brief memo from the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, it seems that as of today, and continuing through at least February 10, all federal agencies have been told to pause all disbursements of financial assistance “to the extent possible under applicable law”. Per the memo, the justification for the pause is to prevent the “use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies.” The brevity of the memo and the breadth of the directive have led to significant confusion within the government, with several states planning to challenge the legality of the pause in court. Federal loans and grants are used to provide so many critical services that the American people rely upon, and it is truly difficult to overstate the devastating impact such a pause would have.

Brooke Rollins being sworn in at her confirmation hearing, January 23, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski via Getty Images

Last week, Brook Rollins sat before the Senate Agriculture Committee for her confirmation hearing. Rollins, a lawyer and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, was selected by President Trump to lead the USDA; though the choice was surprising when announced due to Rollins’ limited experience in the ag sector, she is expected to be easily confirmed with support from both parties. Rollins laid out her top priorities for the agency, which included deploying disaster and economic assistance, addressing and containing the current animal disease outbreaks, passing a farm bill, and to “immediately begin to modernize, realign, rethink the United States Department of Agriculture”.

To better understand what Rollins’ USDA might look like, it is helpful to look at the orders and statements coming from the administration, as well as the record of President Trump’s previous term and GOP efforts over the past four years.

Farm Bill

For the past four years, the GOP’s efforts around the farm bill have largely been focused on increasing subsidies for commodity producers, which analysis shows would benefit large farms the most by guaranteeing higher prices for less than 0.3 percent of American farms. Under the GOP-led House, there has also been staunch opposition to any programs or funding that is tied to addressing climate change or improving equity.

With the GOP controlling both the Senate and House, and significant shake-ups on the Dem side (including new leadership in both chambers), there is considerably less leverage among Democrats to pursue their original vision of a farm bill that protects climate guardrails and nutrition assistance benefits. Instead, we can look to the draft put forth by Senator Boozman last year, which includes an average 15% reference price increase, for a roadmap.

Trade Relations

The President’s proclivity for carrying a big stick is already putting key ag trade relationships at risk. Yesterday, a proposed 25% tariff on Columbian imports that could have spiked the cost of staples such as bananas and coffee was narrowly avoided when Colombian President Gustavo Petro agreed to accept deportees so long as they were not transferred in shackles.

A defining foreign policy of the first Trump presidency, of which we still feel effects today, was the 2018-2020 trade war with China that led the president to draw from the Community Credit Corporation to bailout American soybean farmers. When questioned about the possible effects of tariffs President Trump has proposed for Mexico, Canada, and China, Rollins stated she would work to mitigate trade impacts on the agriculture sector and food prices and to again offer financial aid to any farmers impacted by a trade war.

Labor and Immigration

Our food system is utterly dependent upon the hard and honorable labor of migrant farm workers. During the Biden-Harris admin, there was significant discussion about how to protect and strengthen H-2A; in contrast, the Trump-Vance administration has made it a top priority to prosecute and deport undocumented individuals (and seemingly, even legal immigrants). With deportations already being reported in states like Illinois and Colorado, Rollins said she would work to address the consequences of deportation on food supply chains, and also stated she would support legal work pathways for migrant workers.

Government Efficiency

“Modernizing” the agency is a priority that comes from the top. On his first day in office, the President issued an executive order calling for a blanket hiring freeze for all civilian employees in all executive departments and agencies, a move advocated for by Elon Musk in his position as the head of the new Department of Governmental Efficiency. However, the USDA (like many agencies) is known to be chronically understaffed, particularly in local offices–between hiring freezes and the firing of USDA’s inspector general (a historically non-partisan appointment), it is unclear how efficiently the USDA will function to support farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.

If Brooke Rollins or the Trump-Vance administration have specific plans for supporting the development of resilient, regional, sustainable food systems through USDA actions, these plans have not been made public. However, as we have written about previously, the MAHA movement was critical to President Trump’s re-election, and the confirmation hearing for RFK Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is scheduled for tomorrow. RFK Jr. has vowed to take on Big Food & Big Pharma; if he is confirmed, he would be empowered to address current nutrition standards and the safety of food ingredients. It remains to be seen what influence he might have on USDA and the EPA to pursue his goals of increasing support for regenerative and organic production and reducing American consumption of processed foods, but Rollins has stated her intent is to work closely with him (though the new USDA Chief of Staff might hold opposing views on issues like seed oils).

There is still significant work to be done to ensure that pilot programs and funds are in place to revitalize our agriculture supply chains and bolster regional markets. If the efforts of the Biden-Harris administration are rescinded and funding is revoked, or if rules are erased or changed, then we might never see the full extent of what these important investments might have yielded. Pulling these funds or revoking these rules would leave millions of Americans without jobs or markets, kneecapping good programs that were prepared to get those funds out to producers and other food system actors working to build up local economies and healthy food systems, and harming rural communities across the country.

For the health and wellbeing of all American farmers, ranchers, eaters, and the planet, we truly hope the Trump-Vance administration will do right by rural America, prioritize regional food systems, and keep their promise to make America healthy.