{"id":60535,"date":"2025-01-15T01:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T09:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/?p=60535"},"modified":"2025-01-15T10:44:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:44:59","slug":"how-four-years-of-biden-reshaped-food-and-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2025\/01\/15\/how-four-years-of-biden-reshaped-food-and-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"How Four Years of Biden Reshaped Food and Farming"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/div>

During his first presidential term<\/a>, Donald Trump attempted to cut funding to hunger programs, implemented agricultural tariffs, tax cuts<\/a>, and record-setting payments<\/a> to commodity farmers, and rolled back regulations impacting environmental pollution, labor standards, food safety, and nutrition.<\/p><\/div>

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Despite no big changes to agricultural policy as a result of a farm bill still stalled<\/a> in Congress, President Joe Biden\u2019s governing of the food system looked very different.<\/p>\n

Over the past four years, the Biden administration\u2019s priorities have centered on spending billions of dollars<\/a> on food and farm infrastructure, paying farmers<\/a> to implement climate-smart practices, finalizing new regulations related to the environment<\/a>, labor, food safety<\/a>, and nutrition, and distributing more dollars<\/a> to food insecure families.<\/p>\n

On December 29, 2024, during the final monthly meeting to track the progress of efforts launched after the 2022 White House Conference<\/a> on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack made the case that those efforts had paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks from across the country have pulled together towards our common goal of ending hunger, improving nutrition, and supporting the farmers, ranchers, farm workers, and food workers who grow and produce our food,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd through that work, we have collectively made progress in transforming the food system from farm to fork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some food and farm advocates have told Civil Eats they agree with that sentiment and point to major accomplishments. Others see a long list of lost opportunities that ultimately resulted in business as usual, a feeling conservatives were able to harness during the election through Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.\u2019s promises to \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d<\/a> under Trump.<\/p>\n

It will be many years before the ultimate impacts\u2014good, bad, or neutral\u2014of the Biden administration\u2019s many investments and regulatory changes become clear. To maintain a record as we head into the second Trump administration, we\u2019ve produced an accounting of Biden\u2019s most significant actions impacting food and farming during his tenure.<\/p>\n

Taking on Consolidation and Corporate Power, and Supporting Farmer Livelihood<\/h4>\n<\/div>

Six months after his inauguration, Biden issued an executive order<\/a> that included 72 actions to tackle corporate consolidation across all sectors. Agriculture<\/a> was the first industry mentioned, and the ways in which consolidation was driving the loss of small family farms became one of Vilsack\u2019s most-cited talking points throughout the administration. <\/p><\/div>

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Under his tenure, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) restarted progress<\/a> on the 100-year-delayed Packers & Stockyards Act rules meant to protect farmers from meatpacker abuses. Under President Obama, Vilsack had made some progress on those rules\u2014only to have the work thrown out by President Trump. This time<\/a>, the USDA made real strides and finalized three major rules.<\/p>\n

Vilsack pushed the third and potentially most significant over the finish line just yesterday<\/a>, making substantive changes to the poultry industry\u2019s notorious \u201ctournament system.\u201d<\/a> Chicken companies will no longer be able to drop base pay based on competitive metrics, for example, and will have to provide more details in grower contracts about required investments for barn and equipment upgrades, among other standard practices. Some farm groups have criticized the agency for taking too long, as it will now be easier for Republicans to withdraw the rule if they choose to. But during a press conference Monday, Vilsack defended the process. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken this opportunity to listen to producers about what would create a fairer system,\u201d he said. USDA withdrew a fourth rule that would have changed the definition of \u201cunfair practices\u201d because the agency ran out of time to finalize it. A fifth rule<\/a> related to creating fairer cattle markets is still in its early stages.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s Department of Justice also obtained consent decrees in two Packers & Stockyards cases brought against poultry companies Koch Foods<\/a> and Cargill, Sanderson Farms, and Wayne Farms<\/a> (with the help of USDA). Those resulted in payments to growers to make up for unfair compensation policies and Sanderson and Wayne Farms agreeing to alter their practices<\/a> going forward. Vilsack\u2019s USDA was actively investigating abuses<\/a> reported by contract growers for Tyson as well, although nothing had come of that investigation by election time.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"U.S.<\/a>

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual meeting about reducing the costs of meat through increased competition in the meat processing industry in the South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on January 3, 2022 in Washington, DC. President Biden heard from Attorney General Merrick Garland, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and independent farmers. (Photo credit: Sarah Silbiger, Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Vilsack also delivered on another change long pushed for by farmer advocates<\/a>: meat labeled \u201cProduct of USA\u201d must now come from animals born and raised in the U.S., whereas before, meat packaged<\/em> in the country could carry the label even if the animal had been imported. He did not reinstate Country of Origin Labeling<\/a>, the next step on that continuum that many groups are still fighting for.<\/p>\n

Investment was also central to the USDA\u2019s approach to consolidation in meat. The agency worked to distribute $500 million<\/a> in grants to small and mid-size meatpacking plants to give them a leg up against the highly consolidated big players. The USDA also invested in local and regional food systems beyond meat, pumping extra funding into popular local food system programs, launching Regional Food Business Centers<\/a>, and making it easier<\/a> for schools to purchase local foods for kids\u2019 meals.<\/p>\n

While Biden\u2019s USDA took a lot of action on corporate consolidation, some experts question<\/a> whether the steps will add up to anything more than feel-good spending, since concentration in meat and other markets doesn\u2019t seem to be slowing down. (The USDA says<\/a> it is too soon to assess the impacts.) Plus, Vilsack and the USDA sided with meatpackers on other fronts, such as backing the repeal of California\u2019s animal welfare law, Proposition 12,<\/a> and distributing funds to big meat companies through the Climate Smart Commodities program (more on that later).<\/p>\n

At the same time, Biden\u2019s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under Lina Khan spearheaded a revival of antitrust enforcement with profound implications for the food system and farmers. Khan\u2019s FTC issued new merger guidelines and was successful in blocking Kroger\u2019s takeover of Albertson\u2019s<\/a>, which would have increased consolidation in the grocery industry.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s USDA also provided loan forgiveness and direct payments to many farmers. The American Rescue Plan\u2019s (ARP) provision to pay Black farmers for past discriminatio<\/a>n was initially blocked in court after Texas Republican Ag Commissioner Sid Miller led a lawsuit<\/a> alleging racism against white farmers. Then, Democrats in Congress created a new \u201crace neutral\u201d program through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). That resulted<\/a> in the USDA distributing $2.5 billion in loan forgiveness<\/a> to 47,800 farmers labeled \u201cdistressed borrowers\u201d and $2 billion in payments to 43,000 farmers who experienced any past discrimination in USDA loan programs, based on race, gender, or other factors.<\/p>\n

Tackling the Climate Crisis<\/h4>\n<\/div>

The Biden administration also pumped significant funds into efforts to bolster climate-smart practices on farms. The USDA\u2019s marquee project on this front was the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program<\/a>, which invested just over $3 billion of IRA money into 135 projects across the country. According to the USDA,<\/a> more than 21,000 farms and 5.2 million acres of farmland are involved as of January 2025. Some of the funding went to nonprofits, states, tribes, and universities, but the biggest chunk went to businesses<\/a>. Some went to giant agricultural corporations like Tyson and Land O\u2019Lakes, which led to criticism<\/a> of the program. <\/p><\/div>

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The IRA also added $19.5 billion<\/a> in additional climate-specific funding for oversubscribed conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Improvement Project (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) to be distributed over several years. So far, the USDA has allocated about $2 billion to farmers who are using the funds to pay for practices such as agroforestry and prescribed grazing. Some experts have questioned how big of an impact some of these efforts will have, though, because how much carbon gets put into the ground and how long it stays there is still a matter of debate, especially for two of the most popular practices\u2014no-till and cover crops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far, the USDA has allocated about $2 billion to farmers who are using conservation funds to pay for practices such as agroforestry and prescribed grazing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On the global stage, the USDA created another farm-and-climate initiative, AIM for Climate<\/a>, in partnership with the United Arab Emirates. That project is even more reliant<\/a> on collaboration with big corporate players including Bayer, Syngenta, ADM, and PepsiCo.<\/p>\n

But while most don\u2019t directly touch farms, the IRA\u2019s investments in renewable energy and Biden\u2019s other actions to shift away from fossil fuels (such as rejoining the Paris Agreement and pausing development of new LNG terminals<\/a>) might have the longest lasting impact on the food system. Experts agree that phasing out fossil fuels is the number one non-negotiable step toward securing a livable planet, and any incremental progress on that front could save farms from droughts, flooding, extreme heat, and other weather events that threaten their operations. Biden\u2019s USDA also invested $2.2 billion<\/a> in 7,200 on-farm renewable energy projects, including installing manure digesters and solar panels and $6 billion in rural electric coops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In October, the administration unveiled a national strategy to reduce food waste<\/a>, which is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It\u2019s unclear if that strategy will remain in place under Trump.<\/p>\n

Regulating Pesticides and Other Chemicals<\/h4>\n<\/div>

Ongoing pesticide approvals and regulations generally chug along without much disruption\u00a0even as administrations change. That was true under Biden, barring a few exceptions.<\/p><\/div>

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The most significant: After five decades of ignoring its pesticide obligations under the Endangered Species Act and several lawsuits, Biden\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took several huge steps<\/a> to begin evaluating pesticides\u2019 risks to endangered species. It finalized an herbicide strategy<\/a> that will direct farmers to mitigate risks to threatened species when using weedkillers and released a draft<\/a> of a similar plan for insecticides. And it began tackling a long backlog of chemicals currently in use that haven\u2019t been properly assessed for their risks to endangered species.<\/p>\n

After five decades of ignoring its pesticide obligations under the Endangered Species Act and several lawsuits, Biden\u2019s EPA took several huge steps to begin evaluating pesticides\u2019 risks to endangered species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The EPA also finished the process<\/a> of ending the use of chlorpyrifos<\/a>, an insecticide linked to neurodevelopmental effects in children. A court later ordered them to reinstate its use on 11 crops, which the agency did. Even so, the EPA said that chlorpyrifos use in the U.S. will be reduced by 70 percent.<\/p>\n

In addition, the agency restored a rule<\/a> that provides farmworkers and farm neighbors with more protection from in-field pesticide applications and introduced guidance on enforcing the rule\u2014in direct response to the previous administration\u2019s weakening of the rule<\/a>. After Congress added a provision to the country\u2019s law that governs pesticide regulation, requiring labels to include health and safety information in Spanish, the EPA introduced<\/a> a guide for Spanish labeling and a plan to track whether labels are meeting the requirement.<\/p>\n

While those actions added restrictions, Biden\u2019s USDA also waged an all-out battle against Mexico\u2019s attempt<\/a> to eliminate genetically modified corn, which is sprayed with the pesticide glyphosate, from its food supply. Because most GMO corn exported from the U.S. to Mexico is for animal feed and the policy only applied to corn used in human foods such as tortillas, the policy would have had a minimal economic impact, according to some analyses<\/a>. Still, the USDA spent several years<\/a> engaged in the dispute and ultimately prevailed, forcing Mexico to drop the policy in order to remain a trading partner in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.<\/p>\n

On PFAS or \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d<\/a> Biden\u2019s EPA was the first to take significant action, laying out a roadmap<\/a> in 2021. In 2024, it set the first legal drinking water limits<\/a> for six common PFAS with known health risks. However, the agency set a definition<\/a> for the entire class of PFAS that many experts believe is too narrow and therefore fails to regulate what many call \u201cshorter-chain PFAS,\u201d which are increasingly present in pesticides<\/a> and therefore could have food system implications.<\/p>\n

At the FDA, the agency\u00a0banned the use<\/a>\u00a0of long-controversial brominated vegetable oil (BVO) as a food additive,\u00a0and banned\u00a0the dye Red No. 3<\/a>, which is used in candy and other processed foods, based on animal studies that have shown links to cancer. It also issued new guidance on lead limits<\/a> in baby food, which many experts have said<\/a> are positive but still not restrictive enough to protect kids.<\/p>\n

Focusing on Food Safety<\/h4>\n<\/div>

During Biden\u2019s presidency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) technically completed<\/a> the \u201csingle largest reorganization\u201d in the agency\u2019s history, primarily to move all of its food responsibilities (as opposed to drug) into one place. However, the move didn\u2019t make much of a splash. Agency officials say<\/a> that it will allow for greater coordination of the agency\u2019s food system efforts, which were previously spread out across departments, including more food safety enforcement. <\/p><\/div>

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Food recalls were up in 2024, and a few, like the Boar\u2019s Head plant shutdown<\/a> and McDonald\u2019s onion contamination<\/a>, made national news. But experts said<\/a> the uptick in recalls may actually be a sign of better monitoring and enforcement rather than a failure of the regulatory system.<\/p>\n

The single biggest change<\/a> to food safety standards, however, came out of the USDA, which oversees meatpacking plants. For the first time, the USDA proposed enforceable limits<\/a> on the amount of salmonella in chicken. Salmonella is prevalent in chicken and is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the country.<\/p>\n

For the first time, the USDA proposed enforceable limits on the amount of salmonella in chicken. The administration was slower to act on has been slower to act on bird flu, however: The disease continues to spread and has wiped out more than 130 million chickens and turkeys since 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Previously,<\/a> the federal government could alert citizens to contamination and issue recalls, but it couldn\u2019t mandate that the chicken be pulled from shelves. The USDA finalized the standard for some frozen products but only proposed the limits for raw chicken, so it will be up to the incoming Trump administration to decide whether or not to finish the process. After the announcement, Sarah Sorscher, Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Center for Safety in the Public Interest, called the move \u201cone of the greatest advances in food safety in a generation\u201d in a press release.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s government has been slower to act on another challenge facing chickens (and ultimately, humans)\u2014bird flu. The deadly strain of avian influenza has continued to spread and has wiped out more than 130 million<\/a> chickens and turkeys since it resurfaced in 2022<\/a>. Over the past year, regulators discovered the virus in dairy cattle. In humans, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have recorded 66 mostly mild cases<\/a> and one death so far, and the virus is not spreading between people. The agency is tracking those cases. Meanwhile, the USDA has implemented testing<\/a> of milk cattle being transported across state lines. The USDA also began stockpiling<\/a> vaccines for poultry. But many experts and observers say<\/a> the agency\u2019s unwillingness to compel farms to take action across the board has led to a response that has been too slow and scattered.<\/p>\n

Over the last four years, the FDA has also done little to curb the threat of antibiotic resistance, another major public health threat connected to the food supply. Antibiotic use in pork and beef production continued to tick up<\/a> (since a historic drop in 2016\u201317). Instead of heeding expert calls to collect better data on use, the agency started a process<\/a> to partner with industry on voluntary data reporting.<\/p>\n

The FDA also backpedaled<\/a> on earlier guidance around how long medically important drugs should be used on farms, and in 2024, representatives of the U.S. government helped weaken a global commitment<\/a> to reduce the use of antibiotics in agriculture by stripping it of a numerical target.<\/p>\n

Linking Hunger, Nutrition, and Health<\/h4>\n<\/div>

Early in Biden\u2019s presidency, a confluence of factors<\/a> including pandemic supply-chain disruptions, climate change, and corporate price gouging<\/a> caused food prices to soar around the globe, including in the U.S. <\/p><\/div>

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Biden\u2019s approach to addressing the problem was to strengthen the country\u2019s safety net.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, the administration announced it would attempt to<\/a> modernize and increase enrollment in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food aid and formula to new moms and babies. The USDA made changes<\/a> to make enrollment easier, added flexibility to the food packages, and fought for adequate funding from Congress, including extensions to pandemic-era bonuses that allowed families to purchase more fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

On the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the USDA conducted the first review in 50 years of a framework called the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines how much SNAP benefits should be to adequately support food insecure families. After looking at factors including changes in food prices, the typical American diet, and modern nutrition guidance, it determined<\/a> benefits were too low and the resulting update<\/a> led to an increase of about $1 per day for participants.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s USDA also worked to expand access to free school meals. The agency expanded the number of schools that can serve all students free of charge, which meant 3.8 million additional children now attend a school with universal free meals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Biden\u2019s USDA also worked to expand access to free school meals. During the first two years, when the pandemic was still causing major disruptions to meal programs, agency officials worked with Congress to get waivers extended several times. The waivers allowed the agency<\/a> to send higher reimbursements to schools for meals, for example, and to send meals home with students. As the movement for universal school meals grew<\/a>, Congress seemed unlikely to support it, so the USDA finalized a rule<\/a> that expanded the number of districts and schools that qualify for a program that allows them to serve all students free of charge. Last week, new data<\/a> revealed that the change contributed to a 20 percent increase in the number of districts using the program, and 3.8 million additional children attending a school with free meals.<\/p>\n

Then, as a result of authorization from Congress, the USDA created and began implementing<\/a> two permanent programs intended to feed students from low-income families during the summer months, when school is out. Each summer, SUN Bucks<\/a> now provides $120 per child to qualifying families for extra groceries, while SUN Meals To-Go<\/a> allows schools to pack and deliver meals to children at home or at designated drop-off locations.<\/p>\n

Nutrition standards for those meals also improved under Biden. Earlier, under the Obama administration, Vilsack had led the charge in implementing strict new nutrition standards for school meals. That continued under Biden, but with less speed and more flexibility granted to schools<\/a> due to challenges they were facing during the pandemic. Stricter rules<\/a> on added sugar will start in the fall of 2025 but not fully take effect until 2027, when sodium reductions will also kick in. Another tweak to the standards will make it much easier<\/a> for districts to connect to and purchase foods directly from local farmers.<\/p>\n

The one-two punch of access and nutrition in school meals is illustrative of a broader Biden administration approach that encouraged different agencies to work together to draw connections between hunger, nutrition, and health policy. Vilsack described the USDA\u2019s focus, for example, as \u201cnutrition security<\/a>\u201d as opposed to just food security.<\/p>\n

In September 2022, the administration hosted the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health<\/a>. Biden spoke at the conference in front of an audience of government employees, nonprofit professionals, and private businesses across the grocery, nutrition, and health sectors and officially launched a National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health<\/a>. After the conference, the White House then held monthly calls with agency, nonprofit, and private-sector representatives to track progress on implementing the strategy.<\/p>\n

One notable change the FDA made that had been laid out in the strategy was a final update<\/a> to the agency\u2019s definition of \u201chealthy\u201d for labeling purposes. A previous definition was long under fire, since the way it was written excluded many nutritious whole foods such as nuts. The new definition combines nutrient accounting with ingredient considerations and will now dictate when food manufacturers can use the term \u201chealthy\u201d<\/a> on product labels. This week, the FDA also proposed a rule<\/a> that would require \u201cfront-of-pack\u201d nutrition labels, which has been a long-time priority of public health and nutrition advocacy groups.<\/p>\n

At the end of Biden\u2019s term, White House officials announced the conference-sparked efforts would continue after being transferred to the CDC Foundation as the \u201cHunger, Nutrition & Health Action Collaborative.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Supporting Food and Farm Workers<\/h4>\n<\/div>

President Biden has pitched himself as the most pro-union<\/a> and pro-labor president in decades, and in 2023, he became the first president<\/a> to join striking workers on a picket line. His presidency did coincide with a surge in unionizing<\/a> among food workers\u2014from farm fields<\/a> to Starbucks<\/a>\u2014although it\u2019s hard to say how much the administration had to do with that. <\/p><\/div>

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His National Labor Relations Board investigated union-busting<\/a> at companies like Starbucks. The Department of Labor (DOL) introduced a rule<\/a> preventing farm employers from retaliating against farmworkers on H-2A guestworker visas who try to unionize, but a court later blocked the rule.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"FLORIDA<\/a>

Farmworkers harvest zucchini in Florida. (Photo credit: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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The USDA tried to improve the H-2A program in other ways. In 2024, the agency awarded $50 million to 141 farm employers as part of a pilot program called the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program<\/a>. The grants were essentially given to farms to help defray the cost of recruiting and paying H-2A workers. In exchange, farms committed to improving conditions for workers via different pathways like providing additional benefits, upgrading living conditions on farms, and participating in the Fair Food Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The DOL and the Department of Homeland Security also worked together to implement a policy<\/a> that allowed undocumented immigrants who witness or experience labor violations to stay in the country temporarily. Many of the people impacted worked in meat and food processing. While the Biden administration also supported a much broader legislative package<\/a> on immigration reform that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for many farmworkers while cracking down on immigration enforcement in other areas, the bill stalled in Congress.<\/p>\n

Finally, President Biden last summer announced new actions<\/a> to protect workers from extreme weather. Those included the first heat standard<\/a> ever proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which would require shade and water breaks and could make a major difference for farmworker well-being.<\/p>\n

Advancing Equity<\/h4>\n<\/div>

Hours after his inauguration<\/a>, Biden directed all of his agencies to complete equity assessments, and equity became a thread that ran through many of his food and farm policy programs. He launched the Justice40 Initiative<\/a> with a goal of sending 40 percent of the \u201coverall benefits\u201d of climate, environmental, and other investments across agencies to disadvantaged communities. The administration\u2019s scorecard<\/a> cites $613 billion invested in programs that are covered by Justice40, but it\u2019s hard to know what impact that commitment has had. <\/p><\/div>

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At the USDA, Vilsack launched an equity commission<\/a> that held regular meetings and delivered a final report with recommendations for the agency.<\/p>\n

One place where the agency did take a lot of action was in supporting tribes and tribal food sovereignty in new ways. At President Biden\u2019s direction, the USDA partnered with the Department of Interior to launch co-stewardship<\/a> of federal lands and waters. It has also launched and Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative<\/a> that includes seed-saving hubs and invested $25 million in IRA funds into the Bison Restoration Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the perfect example of how the Biden administration spent the last four years: putting money into efforts the president and his team believed would shore up a food system reeling from the pandemic and climate change, while building greater equity into the nation\u2019s safety net.<\/p>\n

The impacts of many of those efforts will take years to reveal themselves, while other actions may be more quickly sustained or reversed in the second Trump administration. We will continue to report on the actions Washington is taking on all aspects of food and farming, so stay tuned.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite no big changes to agricultural policy as a result of a farm bill still stalled in Congress, President Joe Biden\u2019s governing of the food system looked very different. 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