Concerns Follow USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration Transition
There’s a lot of moving parts going on at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and while agency officials are touting the rebranding of an existing agency, certain stakeholders are not pleased with the changes.
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) on April 30 became the Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA). As part of this change, program leadership and staff will move from the Alexandria, Va., headquarters to hub and program compliance locations across the nation. USDA officials said this shift in customer service will not disrupt program execution nor any endeavor to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse across the agency’s 16 nutrition assistance programs.
“As part of this reorganization, we are changing our structure from regional offices to hubs that will offer improved program support across the nation,” said USDA Deputy Under Secretary Patrick Penn. “This new structure will enhance our customer service to the millions of families reliant on these programs and allow for greater employee and partner collaboration.”
As part of this effort, the FNA administrator will remain in Washington, D.C., to be responsive to Congress, interagency needs, regulatory work and policy coordination. Programmatically, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be relocated to Indianapolis, Ind.; the child nutrition programs will be relocated to Dallas, Texas; the supplemental nutrition and safety programs will be relocated to Kansas City, Mo.; and research programs will be relocated to Raleigh, N.C. A fifth hub in Denver, Colo., will serve as the emergency management and continuity of operations location. Retailer operations and compliance will be across four offices: Atlanta, Ga.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Dallas, Texas; and New York, N.Y.
However, the announcement does not explain how the new hub structure will preserve the regional expertise, state-specific relationships and timely technical assistance that Women, Infants and Children (WIC) state agencies rely on to operate effectively, said Georgia Machell, president and chief executive officer of the National WIC Association. “We strongly oppose the administration’s decision to move forward with plans to reorganize USDA, including FNS," she said. "This includes the relocation of staff responsible for administering WIC and other federal nutrition programs. WIC’s success depends on experienced federal staff, strong regional support, and close coordination between USDA, state and local agencies, clinics, vendors and community partners.”
The association also noted that this change appears to disregard the directive from Congress included in Section 716 of the federal fiscal year 2026 appropriations law, which requires USDA to notify and receive approval from Congress before reorganizing offices or relocating offices or employees.
According to published reports, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents USDA employees who administer food assistance programs, said the plan would shutter the FNS headquarters and regional offices in Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco. NTEU Chapter 226 President Amy Rosenthal called the relocations “an attack on programs that 82 million Americans rely on to put food on their tables.” “Our workers have built their lives in the communities across America where they live,” she added. “Asking them to make the impossible choice between uprooting their families and losing their jobs will force most of them to quit.”
USDA employees have been through this before in past agency transitions. We’ll be watching to see how this change affects food assistance programs going forward.
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