USDA is accepting public comments until September 30th on its sweeping plan to reduce the national capitol region by up to 50% by requiring relocation to 5 hubs around the nation. This comes after the agency already lost more than 15,000 employees through the administration’s Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), including roughly one-third of the National Organic Program (NOP) team. Negative coverage of the plan and USDA’s poor process, including a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, prompted the agency to open a public comment period through September 30th and acknowledge it may consider ‘tweaks’ to the plan. OSA will be sending comments in the coming days. Check out Organic Farming Research Foundation’s blog post outlining concerns about the plan here.
Cathleen McCluskey
Cathleen McCluskey is the Executive Director at Organic Seed Alliance. Her interdisciplinary research on the ways in which context influences the relationship between humans and seed helps guide the organization in further stewarding equitable, inclusive programs rooted in participatory methodologies and aimed at putting the power of seed in the hands of growers.
