January
- January 20, 2025: President Donald Trump signs an Executive Order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, effective January 2026.
- January 20, 2025: Trump signs an Executive Order to withdraw from the World Health Organization, effective January 2026.
- January 20, 2025: Trump signs an Executive Order pausing all foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending review.
- January 20, 2025: Trump signs an Executive Order to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
- January 20, 2025: Trump signs several Executive Orders including this one, this one, and this one related to immigration — targeting undocumented immigrants as well as restricting legal immigration.
- January 27, 2025: The Office of Management and Budget issues a memorandum, directing all federal agencies to temporarily pause the obligation or disbursement of federal financial assistance.
- January 29, 2025: The Office of Management and Budget rescinds its memo from January 27, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says this does not affect the funding freezes in Trump’s executive orders.
- January 30, 2025: USDA instructs its staff to “identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change” by close of business on January 31, 2025, leading to the removal of web pages containing resources on climate information and programs including climate-smart agriculture, forest conservation, and clean energy projects.
February
- February 4, 2025: Trump’s 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports go into effect.
- February 7, 2025: U. S.Department of Agriculture (USDA) has frozen funding for farmers, ranging from cash assistance for farmers to support for cover crops.
- February 13, 2025: The U.S. Senate confirms Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
- February 13, 2025: The U.S. Senate confirms Brooke Rollins as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
- February 13, 2025: Trump signs an Executive Order to establish a Make America Healthy Again Commission, chaired by Kennedy. The stated initial mission of the Commission will be to help the President address childhood chronic disease.
- February 17, 2025: Jim Jones, head of the Food Division at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), resigns.
- February 20, 2025: Rollins announces “USDA will release the first tranche of funding that was paused due to the review of funding in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).”
- February 25, 2025: Layoffs hit the National Plant Germplasm System, which gathers and maintains agricultural plant species.
- February 25, 2025: After suspending the 1890 Scholars Program—aimed at bolstering educational and career opportunities for students from rural or underserved communities around the country—the week prior, USDA announces it is accepting applications for another 2.5 weeks.
March
- March 7, 2025: USDA eliminates two committees that advise it on food safety: the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection.
- March 10, 2025: China’s retaliatory 15 percent tariffs on American farm products including chicken, pork, soybeans, and beef take effect.
- March 10, 2025: Kennedy directs FDA to explore rulemaking and eliminate the pathway for companies to self-affirm that food ingredients are safe.
- March 12, 2025: The EU takes retaliatory trade action, promising new duties on U.S. industrial and farm products.
- March 13, 2025: USDA cancels US$1 billion in funding for schools and food banks to buy food from local suppliers. One example of the impact this will have: the Houston Food Bank estimates the US$11 million loss in funding they’re experiencing will impact 15 percent of their current budget and output.
- March 14, 2024: After hundreds of layoffs in late February, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is told to cut roughly 10 percent of its workforce—amounting to a total reduction of 20 percent.
- March 17, 2025: National Institutes of Health (NIH) cancels funding for the Diabetes Prevention Program, a 30-year nationwide study tracking patients with prediabetes and diabetes.
- March 17, 2025: USDA plans to allow meat processors to permanently run faster line speeds.
- March 18, 2025: USDA announces it is expediting US$10 billion in direct economic assistance to commodity farmers.
- March 22, 2025: USDA cancels the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program halting US$500 million in deliveries to food banks.
- March 24, 2025: USDA cancels US$10 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School grants.
- March 25, 2025: Alfredo Jaurez Zeferino, a local farm worker activist in Washington State, is arrested and detained by ICE.
- March 25, 2025: The U.S. Senate confirms Marty Makary as the Commissioner of FDA.
- March 25, 2025: U.S. Senate confirms Jay Bhattacharya as the Director of NIH.
- March 26, 2025: FDA announces that it will delay the deadline to comply with new food safety rules, known as the Food Traceability Rule (FSMA), by 30 months, originally set to go into effect in 2026.
- March 27, 2025: HHS announces a restructuring that will cut 20,000 jobs, including 3,500 full-time employees at FDA. The cuts reportedly included the entire FDA communications team.
- March 28, 2025: The Trump-Vance Administration told Congress on Friday it plans to cut nearly all remaining jobs at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and close the agency.
April
- April 1, 2025: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shuts down its Maternal and Child Health Branch—which works with other countries to ensure that mothers and children at risk of or infected by HIV receive treatment—and laid off all staff.
- April 2, 2025: Rollins sends a letter to Maine Governor Janet Mills claiming the state is “violating federal law against discrimination in education” by allowing transgender athletes to compete in public school sports, and announcing that USDA will withhold some federal funds from the state Department of Education.
- April 3, 2025: FDA suspends a program to improve its bird flu testing of milk, cheese, and pet food that was set to launch later this month, due to staff cuts.
- April 3, 2025: Interviews with current and former FDA staff members reveal that layoffs at the agency include lab scientists who tested food and drugs for contaminants or bacteria.
- April 4, 2025: After HHS announces that it will cut their workforce by 10,000 people in late March, they estimate that around 20 percent will be reinstated.
- April 5, 2025: Trump’s announced 10 percent baseline tariffs on imports from all countries go into effect, with higher retaliatory tariffs on some of the U.S.’s most important agricultural trade partners.
- April 7, 2025: Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey says in a statement that the Child Nutrition Program of the Maine Department of Education has been unable to access funds necessary for feeding vulnerable children and adults.
- April 7, 2025: According to several officials, USDA plans to cut the agency to 2019 staffing levels, slash its footprint in D.C., and relocate to “hubs” around the country in to-be-determined locations.
- April 8, 2025: After announcing further cuts in emergency food aid to several countries, the Trump-Vance Administration reverse course. Funding cuts remain in place in Afghanistan and Yemen.
- April 9, 2025: Trump raises import taxes on China, bringing the total to 145 percent.
- April 14, 2025: Rollins announces the latest slate of presidential appointments, naming Jaye Hamby director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and appointing new policy advisers, chiefs of staff for four USDA mission areas, and senior personnel for communications and external relations.
- April 14, 2025: USDA cancels climate slush fund, the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC), that supports the adoption of agricultural practices that promote on-farm conservation and resilience. The agency says it will review existing projects based on new criteria and continue to fund those that qualify under a new name, the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative. The PCSC is the fifth program to see its funding ended to date. Other canceled programs include the Working Lands Conservation Corps, Local Food for Schools and Child Care Cooperative Agreement (LFSCC), Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program (LFPA). A comprehensive list of the two-dozen-plus programs with payments still reportedly paused can be found here.
- April 14, 2025: Around 12,000 USDA employees—more than 10 percent of the agency’s total staff—say that they are taking a second buyout option and voluntarily leaving their positions.
- April 15, 2025: A federal judge orders the Trump-Vance Administration to release billions of dollars meant to finance climate and infrastructure projects across the country.
- April 16, 2025: The Office of Management and Budget proposes fiscal 2026 funding levels would disrupt research and conservation efforts. White House documents direct the USDA to develop plans to consolidate local, county-based offices into state committees to service the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Rural Development.
- April 17, 2025: Kevin Hall, a top nutrition researcher at NIH, steps down.
- April 17, 2025: FDA is suspending a quality control program for its food testing laboratories as a result of staff cuts at HHS. The program is designed to ensure consistency and accuracy across the agency’s network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent food-borne illness.
- April 17, 2025: USDA issues a memorandum to all state agencies administering SNAP making it clear states must ensure benefits are provided with an expectation that those who can work, do.
- April 17, 2025: Trump issues an Executive Order to deregulate commercial fishing, opening up waters for fishing in previously protected areas.
- April 17, 2025: An internal email from the State Department suggests the review of USAID programs has been extended for another 30 days. The original review, set to end on April 20, was meant to last 90 days.
- April 21, 2025: Armed agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrest eight dairy farm workers in Richford, Vermont—one of the largest actions of its kind in recent Vermont history. They are detained and transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
- April 22, 2025: FDA announces they are phasing out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes by the end of 2026. An official agreement between FDA and the food industry doesn’t yet exist.
- April 24, 2025: U.S. Secretary of State Rubio announces the State Department is eliminating the Office of Global Change, which oversees international climate change negotiations for the U.S.
- April 24, 2025: Rollins directs state agencies to enhance identity and immigration verification processes to determine SNAP eligibility in an attempt to ensure benefits aren’t claimed by anyone who is undocumented. Undocumented people are already ineligible for SNAP benefits.
- April 24, 2025: Four U.S. states—Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas and Indiana—have asked USDA for waivers to let them ban soda, energy drinks, and other food items from SNAP, something the Trump-Vance Administration has said it will support. Rollins and Kennedy previously wrote: “We will encourage taxpayer dollars to go toward wholesome foods, such as whole milk, fruits, vegetables and meats.”
- April 25, 2025: The World Food Programme (WFP) announces they will cut up to 30 percent of staff by next year due to a decline in funding, including cuts to USAID.
- April 26, 2025: Rollins demands Mexico eliminate restrictions on USDA aircraft and waive customs duties on eradication equipment to help respond to the spread of the New World Screwworm—a deadly parasitic fly that infests warm-blooded animals. If the demands aren’t met by April 30, USDA will restrict the import of animal commodities from Mexico.
- April 28, 2025: Multiple FDA officials report that their layoffs are expected to be reversed following a team-wide meeting the week prior. The reversals include staff at food safety labs in Chicago and San Francisco.
- April 29, 2025: Rollins announces a second round of payments is coming for specialty crop producers through the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program. It will provide up to US$1.3 billion in additional program assistance.
Is there an update you want to see included that isn’t on the list? Email Danielle at danielle@foodtank.com.
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Photo courtesy of Amy Reed, Unsplash
