June 2, 2025
USDA Offices Disappear from DOGE’s Lease Termination List
President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has silently updated the lease terminations listed on its Wall of Receipts, and USDA offices have been majorly impacted. In March, the Wall of Receipts listed nearly 750 government office lease terminations, planned as part of the DOGE agenda to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Now, the number of listed offices is less than 500, and a large chunk of the offices no longer listed are those of USDA agencies. One of the USDA offices no longer listed is the Hendersonville Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in North Carolina. Two sources familiar with the office confirmed a change in the office’s lease status last week, one saying the lease had been renewed. This all comes in the midst of Elon Musk’s reported departure from the Trump administration. Comparing the current DOGE list, more than 70 USDA agency offices have been quietly removed from the Wall of Receipts. Over half are FSA and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offices, which often work the most closely with farmers.
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USDA to Provide $1 Billion to Livestock Producers Impacted by Drought or Wildfire
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the release of congressionally-mandated Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) payments to cover grazing losses due to eligible drought or wildfire events in 2023 and/or 2024. The USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is leveraging existing Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) data to streamline payment calculations and expedite relief. Emergency relief payments are automatically issued for producers who have an approved LFP application on file for 2023 and/or 2024, and they do not have to contact USDA to receive payments. The Department of Agriculture is stepping up to support livestock producers by expediting disaster payments when drought and wildfires strike. On May 7, it launched its 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked. The page is updated regularly and accessible through fsa.usda.gov.
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Trump’s Aggressive Trade Agenda Is Back On
A federal court ruled Wednesday that an emergency law does not provide President Trump with unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country. The interruption was short-lived after a federal appeals court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling. A federal appeals court has now granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause the Wednesday lower-court ruling that declared an emergency law does not provide President Trump with unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country — a decision that would have blocked reciprocal tariff announcements dating back to February. The original ruling was issued by a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade. The judges said the sweeping tariffs and other global levies imposed under the International Emergency Economic Power Act were unlawful, which invalidates President Trump’s April 2 reciprocal tariff order. That order included 30% tariffs on Chinese imports, 25% tariffs on select goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as a blanket 10% tariff on most imported goods.
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Indiana Farmers Celebrate 2025 Legislative Wins, but Key Transition Tax Credit Falls Short
Property tax tweaks and a new online portal were among this year’s legislative wins for Hoosier farmers. But a high-priority proposal to help retiring farmers transition land to a new generation of growers failed to cross the finish line in the final days of the session. Rural-focused portions of Gov. Mike Braun’s first agenda pledged to cut red tape strengthen the agricultural economy and protect Indiana farmland from encroaching development. The Republican governor had two early successes: property tax relief and a new online farmer portal. Baked into Senate Enrolled Act 1, a hotly-debated property tax measure, were changes to how farmland is assessed for property taxes — increasing the capitalization rate in the farmland formula from 8% to 9%, and adding a new assessed value deduction. Braun maintained those changes will bring at least some relief for farmers.
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Iowa Opens First of Its Kind Biodiesel Pump in Urbandale
The Des Moines region is now home to the first above-ground B99 fueling pump, an action that was celebrated Thursday morning by leaders in the biofuels, trucking, and soybean industries. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the new pump, which allows certain semi-trucks to fill up with a 99% biodiesel blended fuel, shows a completion of the ag supply chain, from the field to the biofuel refineries and now into a truck. Every time I see this, or think of an infrastructure investment, I just know that that’s more demand pulling through, and what that ultimately means is more demand for the things that we grow, Naig said. It adds value every single step throughout the chain. The pump is located at a Pilot fuel station in Urbandale, near the intersection of Douglas Avenue and Interstate 35, and for now will be used primarily by PepsiCo trucks which are equipped to utilize the fuel.
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Secretary Rollins Leads Trade Delegation to Italy
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins will visit Rome, Italy, on June 2-3. During her visit, Secretary Rollins will reinforce the Administration’s expectations for improved agricultural market access to Italy and the European Union and will encourage the United Nations organizations in Rome to prioritize American interests, reduce costs, and focus on their core mandates. Secretary Rollins will meet with senior Italian government and International Organization officials, including the Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Forests Francesco Lollobrigida, Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires for the U.S. Embassy Marta Youth, Charge d’Affaires for the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome Rodney Hunter, UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director General Qu Dongyu, and UN World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain. This trade mission follows Secretary Rollins’s trip to the U.K. in May, and precedes future trade travel to India, Vietnam, Japan, Peru, and Brazil over the next four months. Other USDA Trade Missions this year include Peru, the Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mexico.
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