On December 31, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins signed a Secretary’s Memorandum (PDF, 87.3 KB) directing all USDA agencies and staff offices to immediately adopt and implement the first-ever set of USDA General Terms and Conditions for all future awards.
USDA administers an expansive grant and cooperative
agreement portfolio, spanning 21 agencies and staff offices. In FY2025 alone,
the Department distributed over $145 billion through 287 programs, resulting in
nearly 38,000 new awards to farmers, ranchers, foresters, families, rural
communities, small businesses, universities, and various other entities.
Currently, there are 50,979 active awards across the entire USDA enterprise,
underscoring the critical need for consistent oversight and accountability.
Under this new directive, all USDA grant, cooperative
agreement, and mutual interest agreement programs will utilize the same terms
and conditions, and award recipients and cooperators will only need to navigate
50 or less pages of requirements.
This action is a step toward the implementation of USDA’s National Farm Security Action Plan (PDF, 1.2 MB) and Executive Order 14332, Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking, as well as various other Executive Orders and Secretary’s Memorandums that have been signed this year to establish a return to American principles and align the Department’s focus towards its original objectives.
On December 30, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, signed a Secretary’s Memorandum (PDF, 909 KB) that puts forth a focused effort to establish
new priorities for future research and development activities funded by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to strengthen national security, protect
U.S. agriculture, and support American farmers and consumers.
New Research and Development Priorities:
Moving forward, new research and development activities
funded by USDA will be focused on projects that address one or more of the
following priorities:
- Increasing Profitability of Farmers and Ranchers
- Expanding Markets and Creating New Uses of U.S. Agricultural Products
- Protecting the Integrity of American Agriculture from Invasive Species
- Promoting Soil Health to Regenerate Long-Term Productivity of Land
- Improving Human Health through Precision Nutrition and Food Quality
