USDA reorganization comments due Sunday, but extensions requested
The deadline for feedback on the Trump administration’s plan for reorganization of the Agriculture Department is Sunday, Aug. 31, but a group of Democratic senators led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have requested a 60-day comment period.
“Our offices have already heard from constituents expressing concern about how their comments will be reviewed and want to ensure that USDA will consider and respond to their feedback,” the senators wrote. “Therefore, we request that USDA provide at least 60 days for feedback on the proposal after the major initial elements of the proposal have been set and that USDA publish any full, updated proposal on its website along with a more detailed comment and feedback system that allows USDA customers, employees, and agricultural groups to provide meaningful feedback.”
On July 31, the American Commodity Distribution Association wrote Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden, who is in charge of the reorganization, requesting an extension of the comment period and citing the importance of the Food and Nutrition Service and the Agricultural Marketing Service to its activities. The Trump administration has said it plans to relocate 2,600 of the 4,600 USDA employees in the Washington metropolitan area to other locations around the country.
In addition, Solutions for the Land, a farmer and scientist-led nonprofit dedicated to advancing agricultural solutions to state, national and global challenges, in its letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins urged the Trump administration not to follow through with its plan to close the USDA’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and instead modernize it.
“While we recognize and appreciate your commitment to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of USDA operations, closing the Beltsville research campus would represent a profound setback for American agriculture. BARC, with its 6,200 acres of research facilities and long-standing programs, is a cornerstone of U.S. agricultural science,” the group wrote.
Earlier this month, two groups of House Democrats wrote to Rollins asking for more information about the proposed reorganization.
USDA said in an Aug. 1 news release: “All stakeholders, including USDA employees, members of Congress, and agricultural and nutrition partners, are encouraged to provide feedback by emailing reorganization@usda.gov.”
