Institutions of Impact: Exploring the role of the Department of Agriculture
Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of articles exploring the history, mission and essential services provided by key government agencies. President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed funding cuts and potential changes to the way agencies operate could significantly weaken these agencies and disrupt essential services that millions rely on daily.
During his first administration, President Donald Trump prioritized deregulation, reducing environmental oversight and rolling back policies on climate change, while redirecting resources toward large-scale agribusiness. The agriculture industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could be facing a host of issues if Trump follows through on second-term plans to continue overturning climate and agriculture regulations.
History
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act establishing the agency. Two years later, in his final message to Congress, Lincoln called the USDA “The People’s Department.” At that time, about half of Americans lived on farms. The USDA’s work has expanded to include food, agriculture, economic development, science and natural resource conservation.
Key functions and services
Most of the USDA’s budget is dedicated to food and nutrition assistance programs — primarily the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), though the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers the SNAP benefits. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. In recent years, the USDA has also provided debt relief programs and farm aid relief packages to farmers. This included $4.7 billion the department announced in 2018 it would pay to farmers expected to incur losses because of tariffs imposed during Trump’s trade war with China, according to National Public Radio.
Broadly, the USDA currently has four priorities: addressing climate change via climate smart agriculture, forestry and clean energy; advancing racial justice, equity, opportunity and rural prosperity; creating more and better market opportunities; and tackling food and nutrition insecurity. The USDA is made up of 29 agencies and offices with nearly 100,000 employees at more than 4,500 locations across the country and abroad. The agencies in the USDA include the:
- Farm Service Agency
- Forest Service
- Risk Management Agency
- National Resource Conservation Service
- Food and Nutrition Service
- Food Safety and Inspection Service
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Agricultural Research Service
- Agricultural Marketing Service
- Rural Housing Service
- Rural Business-Cooperative Service
- Rural Utilities Service
Photo illustration by the SPLC
