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April 30, 2025<\/b> \u2013\u00a0This week, the Trump administration marked 100 days in office<\/a> with a deluge of rallies, messaging, and fanfare.<\/p>\n During a visit to a Texas agriculture research center and farm with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said that President Trump \u201chas given us a platform to change America for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n Since January, Civil Eats has been following<\/a> the flood of White House and agency announcements and actions to keep track of the most important changes that impact food and agriculture. We\u2019ve been regularly talking to members of Congress, government employees, farmers, food bank employees, school food pros, researchers, and advocates to stay up to speed.<\/p>\n Here, we offer our own 100-day (and in no way comprehensive) review of our coverage of the biggest stories to date.<\/p>\n 1. Quick action on political priorities.<\/b> President Biden prioritized climate action and creating equity<\/a> across the federal government, including at the agencies that work on food and agriculture; Trump made quick work<\/a> of undoing those policies and programs. The term \u201cclimate change\u201d was scrubbed from the USDA website<\/a> and farmer grant programs that prioritized climate goals were frozen for review and targeted for cancellation.<\/p>\n The rooting out of what Trump calls \u201cdiversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)\u201d programs included throwing out the USDA\u2019s report<\/a> on historic discrimination and recommendations for course correction, shutting down the EPA\u2019s<\/a> environmental justice offices, and canceling grant contracts to farm groups<\/a> that had identified working with groups such as Black or LGBTQ farmers in their proposals.<\/p>\n Under Rollins, USDA has also engaged in political disputes that don\u2019t impact agriculture: the agency threatened to withhold funding<\/a> from universities in Maine and California based on policies that supported transgender rights.<\/p>\n 2. A farm (and food) economy in turmoil. <\/b>\u201cFarmers come first at the United States Department of Agriculture in the Trump Administration,\u201d Rollins said in a USDA statement<\/a> on the agency\u2019s first 100 days of work. \u201cAt USDA, I have made bold changes to improve the lives of American producers and consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n However, nearly all USDA grant programs were frozen for review<\/a> when she took over, which has caused months of financial turmoil for farmers waiting for payments they had been planning on. Many programs have since been unfrozen; the fate of others remains unknown<\/a>. In addition, more than $1 billion in expected payments to farmers to provide fresh food to schools and food banks was cancelled<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n