The plan also says the agency is reviewing farm size definitions to “ensure they adequately reflect modern-day realities,” suggesting the USDA is considering including larger operations in the small-farm category. And it calls on Congress to ensure farms and ranches “are protected from an increase in the death tax.” Republicans in Congress are currently trying to extend exemptions on estate taxes—which are often referred to as a “death tax”—that already exempt up to $28 million in inherited property.

On labor, a controversial and important issue amid an immigration crackdown that has direct implications for the farm workforce, the plan says, “we must take action to relieve this persistent issue, including H-2A and H-2B non-immigrant visa classification reform.”

Most significantly, in a section on increasing markets and infrastructure for small farms, the plan cites the agency’s reworking of the Biden-era Climate Smart Commodities program as an action it took to support small farms. “Under President Trump, USDA will ensure that all funded programs dedicated to farmers are actually received by farmers,” it reads. However, under Rollins, the USDA terminated many of the projects that were paying small farms directly for conservation work, including produce, livestock, and dairy farms in the Northeast, small commodity crop farmers in the South, and small grain farmers in the Midwest. Within other programs, many individual grant contracts canceled because the administration classified them as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion were also grants that supported small farms.

In addition, the section says the USDA will “prioritize local farmers in institutional and public food procurement policies,” specifically mentioning The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program, among others. Rollins withdrew $500 million in TEFAP funding and canceled $10 million allocated to the Patrick Leahy program earlier this year. That was after she canceled more than $1 billion in funding to programs that paid small farms to get fresh food into schools and food banks. (Link to this post.)