Citizen Petition and Civil Society Sign-on Letter to the USDA

Dear Secretary Rollins,

We, the undersigned, call on USDA to align policies and funding priorities with the promises outlined in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Initiative and Commission report by supporting programs that deliver local, healthy food to communities while safeguarding farmers, families, and the land itself.

America’s farmers are the backbone of our food supply and our national security. Rising bankruptcies, tariff turbulence, and USDA cuts to key conservation and local food procurement and infrastructure programs have left them vulnerable. Our soil, the very foundation of our prosperity, is being depleted faster than it can be rebuilt. At the same time, families’ lack of access to healthy food means higher rates of diabetes, obesity, asthma, and other chronic conditions.  If we want healthy families, thriving rural communities, and a secure nation, we must return to policies that respect farmers as stewards of the land and ensure that taxpayer dollars support the farmers and ranchers who feed our communities.

We urge you to act immediately to restore soil health, revitalize local markets and rural economies, increase access to local healthy food for our children, and ensure the long-term success of American farmers. These are not partisan issues—they reflect common-sense, pro-health, pro-family, pro-farmer, and sustainable agriculture values that Americans across the political spectrum embrace.

1. Fully restore and strengthen NRCS to protect our soil.
   This year, USDA slashed the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff,  imposed a hiring freeze that left the agency short by more than 2,400 staff, and canceled more than $1 billion in conservation projects in the Regional Conservation program—including some already underway—even as the MAHA Commission report claims to prioritize “shovel-ready” investments. The result: fewer conservation plans, fewer field visits, and less help for farmers to protect their soil and water. We urge you to restore staffing, reinstate conservation projects, and require training for Technical Service Providers so they are equipped to help farmers cut chemical costs and rebuild soil fertility through regenerative and organic practices.
   
   
2. Support organic and regenerative agriculture to reduce the toxic load in children’s food.
   Cuts to conservation, research, and technical assistance programs have weakened USDA’s ability to give farmers the tools they need to build healthy soil and reduce dependence on expensive chemical inputs. At the same time, the National Organic Program (NOP) has lost staff even as organic sales have grown into a $70-billion-dollar market, leaving American farmers vulnerable to fraudulent imports. We urge Secretary Rollins to expand support for organic and regenerative transitions through increased technical assistance across USDA agencies (including NRCS, Risk Management Agency, Rural Development, and Farm Service Agency), and to redirect resources within National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Agricultural Research Service to programs such as the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, which strengthen farmer resilience and independence. USDA must also fully staff the NOP, invest in enforcement, marketing, and price data research, and provide emergency assistance to the organic dairy sector, which faces rising input costs and falling prices.
   
   
3. Restore local food and infrastructure programs that children and families rely on for a healthy diet.
   In 2025, USDA eliminated more than $1 billion dollars in local procurement funding, including the Local Food for Schools and Child Care program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance program. Shortly after, it eliminated all Farm to School funding for 2025. These cancellations wiped out vital markets for family farmers and cut off schools, food banks, and communities from healthy, local whole foods. In July, USDA shut down the Regional Food Business Centers, a much needed program that helped small and mid- sized meat producers, regenerative farmers, and other food businesses deliver healthy food to local markets through grants for food safety, meat inspection and processing, aggregation, and distribution. We applaud you for opening the FY 26 round for the Farm to School Programs and urge you to reinstate the Regional Food Business Centers and the other local food purchasing programs that deliver important benefits for children's health and farmer livelihoods. 
   
   
4. Use USDA purchasing power to support healthy food and independent, sustainable farmers.
   USDA’s $5 billion commodity procurement budget overwhelmingly benefits industrial agribusiness, with just 25 corporations capturing 45% of USDA food spending. This concentration squeezes out independent farmers and limits access to healthier, sustainably produced food. Secretary Rollins should ensure that a meaningful share of these funds—including DoD Fresh purchases—goes to independent producers offering organic foods and pasture-based, humanely raised meat without antibiotics or growth-promoting drugs. Redirecting USDA’s purchasing power in this way would provide healthier options for school and federal nutrition programs while empowering local farmers and building resilient, diverse food systems.
   
   
5. Advance healthy school meals so that children are not dependent on ultra-processed foods.
   The MAHA Commission report calls on USDA to promote whole, healthy foods across its 16 nutrition programs, including school meals. Yet large cuts to local food procurement programs have left schools struggling to afford and prepare fresh whole foods. Insufficient kitchen infrastructure and staff training further drives reliance on ultra-processed foods. USDA should support a shift away from ultra-processed foods in schools to scratch cooking with whole ingredients by expanding funding for kitchen equipment, technical assistance, and culinary training for school food professionals. It should also ensure USDA-subsidized commodities do not contain harmful ingredients and strengthen school meal patterns with science-based standards to increase fiber consumption and reduce sodium and added sugar. 
   
   
6. Reform agricultural checkoff programs.
   Checkoff dollars, which are mandatory fees taken from farmers, continue to be funneled to lobbying groups that promote industrial models that undercut higher welfare and organic producers. Secretary Rollins must implement stronger controls for budget transparency, independent audits, and farmer-led governance to ensure these funds benefit all farmers and are not channeled to lobbying groups. Currently, checkoff-funded groups are members of the Modern Ag Alliance, a coalition of farm commodity groups led by Bayer that are actively working to implement pesticide liability shield laws in Congress that undermine our democratic rights and put our children at greater risk for diseases like cancer, neurological issues, infertility, and ADHD.