TL;DR

Sweet sustainable farming funding, Chipotle is NOT cancelled (thank god), and more mostly positive food news
[The lack of] policy movement we’re tracking
Easy ways to advocate that all take under 2 minutes
A hugely impactful donation matching campaign from a surprising food company
Decoding (or at least attempting to decode) Secretary Rollins’ vision for the USDA’s 16 nutrition programs

This Month’s Standout Food Stories

👀 Policy Movement We’re Tracking

🤦🏽‍♀️ To be honest, the current “policy movement we’re tracking” is the lack-thereof. If you’ve noticed that the introduction of new bills has been slow, you’re not alone. So as the government deals with all the, well, endless swirling chaos, we’re all eyes on budget reconciliation and cuts to key programs.

🗣️ Over 81 democratic lawmakers—led by two of our personal favs Reps. Pingree and McGovern—released a letter demanding answers after USDA’s halted over $1 billion for programs that gave schools and food banks money to buy food from local farms and ranchers. FWIW, we’d also like answers. (More on this below, btw)

🥛 Why did two bills about milk get introduced: Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) introduced The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act 2025 (H.R.649), a bipartisan bill that would allow schools to offer whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free flavored and unflavored milk. AND Senator Booker, a vegan, introduced the Freedom in School Cafeterias and Lunches Act, alongside Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and John Kennedy (R-LA). This bill would require schools to also offer students plant-based milk options, too.

**How You Can Progress Food Policy This Month**

Organizations are putting in work to make advocacy easier than ever during this insane time. Check out these user-friendly tools to email your legislators—that all take under 2 minutes.

Send an email to Congress in support of continuing to fund the Community Eligibility Provision—an essential school meal program that allows eligible schools to serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge—using this super easy tool from FoodCorps.
Tell Congress to lift the freeze on farmer funding via The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s tool—BTW, USDA is still not dispersing funds from lawful, signed contracts despite multiple court orders 🙃.
Send a pre-drafted letter to Congress to show your support for WIC, the national program that provides nutritious foods, breastfeeding/chestfeeding support, and more to pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum individuals and their children.

Psst… we posted these and MANY more on our Linkedin, so make sure you’re following us there!

Social Impact Spotlight

Shedding light on companies leading by example and engaging in the food system in a meaningful way

**Banza Announces Major Matching Campaign to Support Non-profit Edesia**

Banza, the OG producers of chickpea pasta, announced a new campaign to support Edesia, a U.S.-based non-profit committed to ending global child malnutrition. In addition to an upfront donation, the company is donating 100% of its website profits from March and April to the organization. That’s pretty incredible.

After learning that Edesia didn’t have the funding and resources to produce its Plumpy’Nut therapeutic food packets, in large part because of the U.S. foreign aid freeze, Banza took action. Edesia’s life-saving product is relied on by thousands of children around the world each day—so this was no minor inconvenience. The FPD loves to see this unexpected partnership during a time where many food companies are seemingly moving in the wrong direction (insert side eye here)….ANYWAY. Everyone go buy a box of Banza!

What is Secretary Rollins’ Agenda around food?

When the Biden Administration took office in early 2021, then Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was what you might call a known entity in the food and nutrition policy world. Not only did he have a long track record working on food and agriculture issues as Governor of Iowa from 1999-2007, but he was also President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture (and longest serving Cabinet member) from 2009-2017. Somewhat similarly, Secretary Sonny Perdue, President Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture during his first term, was a known entity in the food and agriculture space, not only as a lifelong farmer and veterinarian himself, but also from his tenure as Governor of Georgia from 2003-2011.

But the 33rd Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins (and only the second woman to ever have the job), is a bit more unknown in the food and nutrition space, despite having policy experience under Texas Governor Rick Perry and within the first Trump Administration. This has left a lot of people unsure of where exactly she stands—and what she’s planning to do in the office. As usual, we got you. This month, we’re decoding and trying to demystify her agenda thus far and give you updates on what’s going on during her tenure to date. Let’s get into it.

A quick scene setter

On February 13, 2025, Secretary Rollins published a letter stating her vision for USDA’s 16 nutrition programs to state, local, territory, and tribal leaders. This is an important audience, given that many of USDA’s nutrition programs are implemented (and sometimes partially funded) by entities at these levels of government. While the communications professionals inside of us would never recommend a list that’s eleven bullets long, the letter manages to be thorough while also skirting on specifics (almost like someone on a first date telling a simpler version of the story and the more complicated, honest version on the second).

The letter contains some things pretty much everyone can get behind: clarifying requirements and regulations, modernizing systems, creating new opportunities for American farmers to participate in nutrition assistance programs, and finding ways to improve nutrition and health outcomes. But it also includes some of what was to be expected from a conservative administration–allusions to rampant fraud, waste, and abuse; emphasis on work and claims of dependency; and encouraging state innovations that can sometimes look like restrictions. But how is this vision becoming a reality thus far?

Rhetoric not matching reality

Two months into her term, and nearly three months into the Trump Administration, there have been some promises kept, but overall, it’s a mixed bag.

Let’s start with the good news. To the Administration’s credit (yes, we are capable of this), the USDA recently issued a stern warning to states that are lagging behind SNAP application and recertification timelines (the vast majority of states take too long to process SNAP applications, and just under half fail to meet requirements for recertifications), indicating that they wanted to make SNAP application and recertification processes and timelines more efficient. When people need SNAP, they deserve quick decisions and to receive benefits as quickly as possible if they are eligible, and often state agencies lag behind standards. There are lots of reasons why this might be, but far too often, the way individuals applying for and hoping to receive public assistance are stigmatized, not given straight answers, and have to go through confusing systems all to get benefits they deserve, and have usually paid taxes for. This Administration has promised significant technical assistance and resources to states hoping to fill this gap, and we hope that they, and the States and other agencies with whom they’re partnering, are serious about this. It’s worth noting that this warning was issued on April 1st, so… we are hoping we are not the April fools reporting this out.

But, then, there is the bad. And there is plenty of it.

Ugh.

One of the first topics Secretary Rollins addressed regarding SNAP was to ask State and other agencies to ensure that “illegal immigrants” were not receiving SNAP, in part to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders on this subject. Of course, this has simply never been possible, and you can even refer to the FNS website to confirm (don’t worry, we took screenshots just in case they take that down, too) that it is very hard to get SNAP, or any kind of federally-funded food assistance for that matter, as an immigrant. This kind of rhetoric is not only meant to stigmatize those immigrating to this country, but also to stigmatize programs like SNAP as wasteful and going to the “undeserving” as a justification for further cuts. By, and large, this is simply untrue. To set the record straight–the vast majority of SNAP recipients are well below the poverty line, children, disabled, elderly, or, if they’re able to work, they do. This, of course, is on top of the GOP plans to potentially gut SNAP and other benefits in order to make room for massive tax cuts.

Remember how the Secretary was very open to connecting American farmers to nutrition assistance programs? Well, not so fast. In the past, USDA has funded programs that provide funding for school nutrition programs and food banks to purchase products from local farmers, namely the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (which had over 40 states participating!) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program. USDA provided notice in early March they were cancelling these funding streams, cutting off markets for local producers and providing a punch in the gut to school nutrition programs and food banks and pantries using the program.

Then, later in the month of March, USDA cancelled more deliveries to food banks under TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program), which provides cash and commodity assistance to food banks and pantries across the country. These two programs weren’t established by Congress, they were created through the Commodity Credit Corporation, so while it is certainly more legal to nix these programs than some other cuts, it’s still a step backwards for local food systems and how they interact with nutrition assistance programs. It’s also left many food banks scrambling to make up the lost resources.

And while the Secretary’s letter indicated wanting to give more flexibility to State and other entities in administering their programs, there is movement in Congress to eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP allows for schools and school districts to create what amounts to universal school meal programs at the local level when there are a certain percentage of students receiving free and reduced-price meals, reducing paperwork and bureaucracy and ensuring the health of school nutrition programs (did you know they all operate almost like small businesses? Well, now you do). In fact, 23 million American kids are in schools covered by CEP. You can even learn the impact by state and school district thanks to our friends at FRAC. While the rhetoric emphasizes state and local choice and flexibility, the policy movement is towards taking that away with serious consequences, mostly to save a few bucks for billionaires.

Speaking of billionaires, lest we forget the DOGE of it all (holding space for a collective groan). Like many government agencies, USDA has already offered early retirement or voluntary separation agreements to many of its staff, and there are plans in the works for the reduction of force across the agency. While it may be tempting to believe that these cuts might only impact D.C. staff, it’s worth remembering that USDA has a presence in every county in the United States (there’s a reason it’s been called “The People’s Department”). These cuts won’t just impact urbanites with desk jobs: They could truly impact people in every nook and cranny of the country.

Let’s complicate things further, shall we?

And while there’s the good, and then there’s the bad, there’s also the more complicated.

You might recall our discussion in January of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, their history, how they’re developed, and how the public (including you!) plays a role in shaping them. Well, the way these guidelines have been developed is now in the crosshairs of this Administration, as well. FoodFix’s excellent reporting on this subject points to these recent tensions, and we discussed some of these in our previous edition, but the TL; DR is that while much of the science points us towards eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole foods in general, there are lots of points of contention including ultra processed foods, animal vs. plant proteins (FWIW, the authors of this newsletter think you can just have both if that’s what you like), food additives and dyes, and who even gets to make these guidelines at all.

So, what do we do?

First and foremost, remember we live in a democracy, and your voice has never stopped being important. If you agree with this Administration enforcing rules around SNAP application and recertification timelines so people get their benefits faster, you should praise them (even if you have to hold your nose). If you think it’s dastardly to cut SNAP and enforce stringent work requirements, or to cut local food purchasing for schools and food banks, make sure you tell them that, too. And don’t forget our advice from January: The Dietary Guidelines still need and deserve attention from the public.

But also, make sure you reach out to your member(s) of Congress (of which you have three, unless, of course, you live in D.C. like one of our authors). There is still a Farm Bill in need of reauthorization (though prospects look grim), and, at least for now if they choose, Congress has the power to reinstate and enforce spending on their priorities through the Budget and Appropriations processes.

We’ll have to wait and see how Secretary Rollins’s tenure shakes out, but never forget your ability to shape your democracy by rocking the boat.