First up, I want to highlight a book talk I’m moderating Aug. 20 at Politics & Prose on Connecticut Ave. NW. Author Michel E. Shepherd, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, has written a new book exploring growing GOP support in rural communities and its connection to worsening health outcomes. The book, Rural Pain, Republican Gain, explores similar themes to Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land and Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? Come out and ask questions — I think it will be a great discussion.

Here’s what I wrote

It’s the parasite that is causing mass fear of lettuce. And, in some cases, fear of most fresh produce.

Cyclospora — a microscopic parasite that spreads through human feces — has sickened more than 10,000 people and as many as 22,000, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But as this is all going on, the federal government has been fairly quiet. There’s been one press call with reporters about the record-breaking outbreak that’s now killed two people. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the Food and Drug Administration handling outbreak, has taken questions on the outbreak once. And federal health agency social media accounts have addressed it only occasionally.

It’s prompted a lot of scrutiny about the federal government’s response, and long-running questions about the effectiveness of our food safety system. At the same time, Kennedy and the Trump administration more broadly have continued to tout efforts to bring “real food” — including fresh fruits and veggies — to Americans’ kitchen tables. But outbreaks like this one can have lasting impacts on consumer choices, and it’s all left public health experts and nutritionists worried that the outbreak is undermining what many agree is an important message.

I wrote about all of this with Sophie Gardner. We have an illustration by Claudine Hellmuth and our graphics are by Paroma Soni. Read it here.

Cyclospora has been so confusing for consumers. I’ve joined a bunch of radio and media to help unpack at all. Find me chatting about it at CBS News Los Angeles and All Sides with Amy Juravich in Columbus. I also joined Frank Yiannas on his podcast Smarter Food Safety.

SNAP to it

Data corner: New report finds that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program doesn’t diminish hunger as much as we thought. It’s still important though — but this got me thinking: Why isn’t it as effective as we thought? Is it a lack of funding? Is it that the benefits don’t align with how people actually eat? Is it that food has become so much more expensive SNAP isn’t enough for a healthy diet? Maybe it’s none of this and it’s way more complicated.

If you study this, let’s talk. Email me at marciabrown@politico.com

Working people using SNAP: A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the number of working people using SNAP and Medicaid has grown since the start of the pandemic. The report also found that food-delivery workers and ride-hailing workers are the biggest group of working adults using SNAP, beating out Walmart, which earned the No. 1 spot five years ago.

“The number of Amazon workers relying on the federal programs for the poor nearly tripled between February 2020 and September 2025,” The Washington Post reported.

In other news

• The farm bill failed to advance out of the Senate Agriculture Committee last week. Senate Democrats wanted a two-year delay of a provision expected from last year’s reconciliation package that is expected to impose billions in new costs on states — and that anti-hunger advocates say is causing a decline in SNAP participation. My colleague Grace Yarrow has you covered on the latest.

• Kennedy’s FDA proposed a new regulation that would require companies to notify the agency when introducing new food substances to market using the GRAS standard, or Generally Recognized As Safe. Critics have said for decades the regulatory pathway has allowed thousands of food additives to enter the food supply with no FDA notification, leaving consumers in the dark about what’s really in their food. Consumer groups praised the rule, but said the FDA should go even further. Story for POLITICO Pro here.

Help me close my tabs

Beyond Denial: How Oil Execs Shaped a Landmark Climate Study

What Did They Eat? Here’s How One Case of Cyclosporiasis Was Solved.

My Maddening Quest to Find Out if Blueberries Come From Farms Where Workers Were Harmed

Suspicion and Doubt at the National Civics Contest

‘Cancer Doesn’t Care What Party You Belong To’: Poisoned Water Is Turning This Rural State Bluer

Currently reading

Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

Currently cooking

I made this delicious peach salsa last month with jalapeños I grew myself. I don’t like when red onion overwhelms the other flavors in a dish like this so I soak the chopped onion in water for 15 minutes before mixing it all together.

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky.

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A little background for new subscribers: I got my start in journalism as a writing fellow for The American Prospect, where I wrote about immigration, labor and criminal justice. Then I worked for The Capitol Forum covering anti-monopoly policy before moving to POLITICO. I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for six years, and I grew up outside of Cleveland.

Today I’m doing the backstory of a piece I wrote last month. It’s about Maine and it’s not about THAT senate race. (But you can read the very excellent work my colleagues have done here.)

Here’s what I wrote

At the beginning of 2026, I started thinking about writing stories about what was happening to the nation’s food safety net. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is sometimes called H.R. 1, transformed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other programs for low-income people, including Medicaid. But a lot of the changes are incredible wonky and difficult to understand what they mean for actual people.

In this story, I tried to answer some of that. I traveled to Maine in early April, before most of the trees had leafed out, and met with organizations and state leaders working to insulate Mainers from this change. My goal was to show how states are handling changes handed down to them at the federal level, and the limits of what they can do. Most states are required to balance their budges, severely limiting what they can do to backfill federal funding cuts — and that’s if there’s the political will to do it.

I also got to know Jeri and Mario Montes, an older couple who have recently experienced severe financial hardship. They were living in their car before they found Preble Street, a Portland-based nonprofit that helped them find housing and applications for SNAP. Prior to H.R.1, the couple, who are in their 60s, would have been exempt from work reporting requirements because they were older, they’re both veterans and they were recently experiencing homelessness.

H.R.1 axed those exemptions and generally applies work requirements to a much broader population as Republicans and the Trump administration have sought to reorient the nation’s safety net around work. For example, H.R. 1 also implements nationwide work requirements for Medicaid participants for the first time.

In the course of reporting the story, the Montes learned their SNAP benefits would be cut significantly because Mario was subject to work requirements. (Jeri’s disabilities qualified her for an exemption.)

What comes next will depend on a lot on who is Maine’s next governor.

Read the full story for the newly-relaunched POLITICO Magazine here. POLITICO commissioned photographer Ryan David Brown for the compelling photographs. If you want a short version of it, you can listen to me talk about it on This Morning With Gordon Deal.

More backstory

As many of you already know, there’s a lot of reporting that goes into a story like this, and unfortunately, a lot of it gets left on the cutting room floor. In my Substack, I wanted to share a bit about what that’s like.

I spent four days in Maine in early April, where I visited Portland, Augusta, Lewiston and Brunswick, putting hundreds of miles on a rental car. With that much driving, I often recorded voice memos for myself to remember observations, conversations or even ideas about how I might structure the story.

As part of my reporting, I met folks at the Good Shepherd Food Bank and toured one of their enormous warehouses. They have ramped up distribution and fundraising, despite federal funding cuts, which you may remember I reported on last year. (It’s worth noting that a lot of this story builds on reporting I did last year as we covered in real time how the Trump administration was reshaping the federal food safety net, not just SNAP.)

I also spoke with folks at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging and rode along with one of their volunteers for a Meals on Wheels delivery route in Portland. I spoke with several of their clients, including one retired newspaper deliveryman who had recently started receiving deliveries because he couldn’t cook after his hip replacement surgery.

I also spoke with employees, clients and volunteers at Gather to Grow food pantry in Lewiston, a post-industrial mill town, as well as experts at the Maine Center for Economic Policy.

I also consulted policy wonks in Washington across the political spectrum, reviewed various research papers about work requirements and read Christopher Bosso’s book about the political history of SNAP.

Unfortunately, not all of this made it into the story. But I am incredibly grateful to the dozens of people who took time to speak with me, meet with me and answer my follow-up questions over the last few months. Even if it’s not in this story, this kind of reporting often makes it into future stories and always informs future reporting.

I’m especially grateful to Jeri and Mario, who trusted me to tell this story. They just celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary last month. Congratulations!

What’s next

Right now, I’m making plans for several more stories about how the federal government is transforming the food safety net. I welcome ideas and tips about aspects that are under explored or ways tiny policy tweaks are having an outsized impact. Get in touch!

In other news

• The New World screwworm (one of the most disgusting things I’ve had the pleasure of covering) was eradicated decades ago. Now it’s spreading in Texas and New Mexico. This month, I scooped that the Trump administration’s internal spending pause last year and ongoing spending reviews delayed the government’s response by months. A former USDA official told me that without these delays, USDA would have been producing double the number of sterile flies—the best antidote to an infestation—right now.

• Pesticides won big at the Supreme Court, Pamela King and I reported. The issue has become a central piece of the Make America Healthy Again coalition, and the Trump administration hasn’t taken the position advocates want. My colleague Cheyenne Haslett and I went deep into how Bayer, which makes Roundup, landed a win earlier this year with the White House that made MAHA furious.

• Funding cancellations aren’t over yet. USDA cancelled a $300 million program aimed at helping farmers buy farmland in March. A lawsuit has restore some of those grants, but the future remains a bit uncertain.

• USDA’s sweeping reorganization is ongoing, and details have emerged slowly. We’re trying to understand what it means for USDA’s key mission areas, including nutrition programs, farm aid and conservation. Most of our coverage so far has been paywalled. Get in touch if you have a tip. We take source protection seriously. My Signal is marciagbrown.68

• The fertilizer crisis stemming from the U.S.-Israel war in Iran isn’t going away. Earlier this year I wrote that the price crunch has prompted USDA to look into expanding a Biden era program to boost domestic fertilizer program.

• USDA employees allege that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has subjected USDA workers to “government-sponsored religious coercion” with messages that promote her own Christian beliefs and violate the First Amendment.

Help me close my tabs

• Trash fish? More like some of the oldest — and most important — species in Minnesota.

• The One Thing Everyone in America Can Agree On? Costco

• How an Industry That Runs on Pesticides Won Over RFK Jr.

• The Tick That Hunts Down Its Hosts—Including Us

• A Fancy Name for Junk Food

Currently reading

Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

Map of Another Town and A Considerable Town by M.F.K. Fisher

Audition by Katie Kitamura

Currently cooking

Rancho Gordo’s Good Mother Stallard Beans. One of the most delicious beans of theirs I’ve tried. We have cooked beans and rice, tacos and more with this batch. I ate them right out of the pot, too.

I also have been making the NYT’s Marry Me Chicken. It’s become a favorite. (Thankfully my husband already married me so the pressure is off if it doesn’t come out right.)

Other food-ish things

My husband and I married in October and we finally got around to our honeymoon in May. We spent two weeks in France and we ate lots of delicious food. We especially loved trying “quenelles” at a bouchon in Lyon, the country’s food capital.

I’m growing tomatoes and herbs in my backyard. While the plants are doing well, the tomato crop has so far primarily benefited our neighborhood squirrels and birds.

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky.

I know it’s belated, but I didn’t want to let 2026 get too far ahead of me without addressing what has been the busiest year of my career so far. I wrote 200+ stories in 2025 and I can only expect something similar in 2026.

In 2025, I covered the firing (and sometimes re-hiring) of thousands of federal employees almost overnight, significant cuts to federal food aid, the rise of the Make America Healthy Again movement, a fluctuating tariff regime and a record-setting government shutdown.

I am incredibly grateful to all the people who trusted me and POLITICO to write and publish these stories. I am also thankful for fabulous colleagues across the newsroom who have helped bring so many of these stories to light. And as always, I welcome feedback, tips and story ideas.

On to 2026!

My top 2025 stories:

• Trump administration firings hit key office handling bird flu response - Feb. 16, 2025

• Trump administration struggles to rehire fired bird flu employees - Feb. 27, 2025

• USDA cancels $1B in local food purchasing for schools, food banks - March 10, 2025

• USDA halts millions of dollars worth of deliveries to food banks - March 19, 2025

• ‘We just haven’t seen anything like this’: Farmers brace for Trump’s trade war - April 4, 2025

• USDA’s $1B bird flu plan uses money intended for schools, food banks - April 12, 2025 (w/ Grace Yarrow)

• RFK Jr. isn’t staying in his lane. Trump is thrilled. - April 26, 2025 (w/ Adam Cancryn)

• More than 15,000 USDA employees take Trump’s offer to resign - May 3, 2025 (New data indicate roughly 20,000 people have left USDA since last January)

• Trump officials delayed farm trade report over deficit forecast - June 4, 2025

• Michelle Obama Was Vilified by the Right. Then Came MAHA. - June 14, 2025

• Millions more Americans could turn to food banks soon. Food banks are simply not ready. - July 6, 2026 (Published shortly after Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill Act became law)

• Publicly, this industry has been mostly quiet about MAHA. Privately, they’re panicking. - September 13, 2025

• USDA tells lawmakers WIC will be funded through October - October 10, 2025 (Published during the record-setting government shutdown and later cited by a federal judge)

• Food stamps are back, but millions will soon lose benefits permanently - November 15, 2025

• RFK Jr. wants states to ban junk food. No one knows what counts. - December 20, 2025

Food-related books I read this year:

• Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen. A illuminating read about the origins of coco and why humans are crazy about it.

• We Are Eating the Earth by Michael Grunwald. A science-y read about the problems with how we measure agriculture’s impact on the climate. Spoiler: We often leave out the value of land.

• Life and Death of the American Worker by Alice Driver. A compelling read about Tyson poultry processing plant workers in Arkansas and the impact of the pandemic.

• The Last Supper by Sam Kass. An urgent call for rethinking how we farm and eat in order to save the climate, with a special focus on the possibilities of food tech.

What’s on your reading list? Please send my way whether it’s food-related or not!

Personal news

Some of you also may not know I got married this year. Shiva and I celebrated our wedding in October with friends and family from 19 states, the District of Columbia and two countries!

Currently cooking

I just made a lucky New Year’s Day meal: black eyed peas and stewed tomatoes, served with cheesy grits and a pork loin roast. I followed this NYT recipe for the pork!

And last weekend I made Heidi Swanson’s Christmas lima stew (from the Rancho Gordo cookbook). Crusty bread required, of course.

Currently reading

I just finished The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and I’m in the middle of Circe by Madeline Miller.

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter,and Bluesky. Do you think I should join another social media platform? Tell me!

Welcome to my free newsletter. I’m a reporter at POLITICO where I cover the politics and policy of food and agriculture.

A little background for new subscribers: I started in journalism as a writing fellow for The American Prospect, where I wrote about immigration, labor and criminal justice. Then, I worked for The Capitol Forum covering anti-monopoly policy before moving to POLITICO. I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for six years, and I grew up outside of Cleveland.

New! I’m on Instagram. Find me @bymarciabrown.

Tomorrow: I’ll be moderating a panel at Harvard Law School for the 10th anniversary of the Food Law Student Leadership Summit on food production and the climate crisis. The theme this year is “Food and Democracy: From Policy to Plate.” It’s open to the public — come by if you’re in Boston!

Here’s what I wrote

First up: The federal government is officially closed. That will have painful ramifications for 7 million low-income moms and babies who participate in WIC, a major federal nutrition program.

Because the shutdown comes at the end of the fiscal year — and WIC was already running out of funds — the program is in tough financial straights, my colleague Rachel Shin and I reported. A $150 million contingency fund will keep it afloat for a week, but funding is uncertain beyond that.

I’ll be reporting what this means for participants and the program over the next few days and beyond. Get in touch!

In other news:

• I had my debut in Women Rule, POLITICO’s flagship newsletter covering women, politics and power. I wrote about the how the GOP megabill’s effects will disproportionately hit women.

• The food industry — think processed foods and drinks — is quietly panicking about MAHA. One lobbyist told me, “Most of the food industry is like the stunned fish you get when you stick a cattle prod in a fish pond.” But it still remains to be seen if the Trump administration will follow through on major regulatory changes like a definition for ultra processed foods or front-of-package labeling.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA long-awaited strategy report is finally out. But it prompted a major rebuke from a key corner of the Make America Healthy Again movement, which viewed its recommendations as soft on pesticides. This battle isn’t over — and it’s one I’ll be watching. MAHA advocates are going after proposed legislation they view as a liability shield for pesticide manufacturers, and threatening to primary Republicans that vote for it, as I wrote with Lauren Gardner. Catch me talking about the MAHA report on Cheddar News.

• USDA is moving more staff out of Washington, as I scooped with Grace Yarrow and Jordan Wolman. This is a playbook from the first Trump administration, when officials moved USDA’s Economic Research Service and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture to Kansas City, prompting 75 percent of staff to part ways with the agency and leading to a significant brain drain.

• The GOP megalaw is expected to kick at least 2.4 million people out of the SNAP program, the largest federal anti-hunger program, my colleague Samuel Benson wrote. This will further strain a network of food banks already stretched thin. Food banks leaders told me that private charity just can’t fill the gap, as I wrote here.

• USDA canceled union contracts with food safety inspectors as they implement an executive order that seeks to expand which employees work in national security roles, a designation that the administration can use to strip workers of union protections.

Help me close my tabs

• A fun read about an native plant influencer I’ve enjoyed following on Instagram for years.

• A lovely read about fish and mountains.

• How aquaculture in the UK is impacting Senegalese livelihoods.

• A really good read about what’s happening at the FDA.

• The alcohol industry won big when the government withdrew a report that found moderate drinking is linked with increase health problems.

• A good piece from NOTUS on how no one seems to know where all the money from canceled programs is going.

• And yes, I have September and now October scaries.

• I’m a mediocre scrapbooker but maybe I would improve if i tried junk journaling?

Currently reading

This is list is longer than usual because I’ve been delinquent in writing this newsletter! But I’ve been enjoying some great books lately.

• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. My book club went to the mausoleum in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown where Willie’s body was temporarily buried before his remains were moved to Illinois with those of his father. If you read this book, an Oak Hill visit is especially moving.

• Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

• ALSO! My good friend Abby White’s debut young adult novel is out. You can buy it here!

Currently cooking

NYT Cooking’s Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding. A book club favorite :)

Fun food-related things I did recently!

• Explored a food co-op in Bozeman, Montana.

• Listened to a live podcast taping with nutritionist Marion Nestle at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, Maryland.

• Ate street food (chana bhature) in New Delhi, India.

  Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky.

A little background for new subscribers: I started in journalism as a writing fellow for The American Prospect, where I wrote about immigration, labor and criminal justice. Then, I worked for The Capitol Forum covering anti-monopoly policy before moving to POLITICO. I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for six years, and I grew up outside of Cleveland.

Here’s what I wrote:

Earlier this month, I broke the news that Trump administration officials delayed a government trade forecast because they didn’t like what it said about the increasing trade deficit for farm goods. While Trump officials ultimately didn’t change the raw data, officials did redact the typical written analysis that accompanies the report for the same reason when it ultimately published, my sources told me.

The story hit a nerve. These are routine reports that farmers, businesses and policymakers rely on. Reports like these — such as the latest inflation and employment numbers — are crucial to understanding what’s really going on in the economy. The same day my story ran, The Wall Street Journal had a piece about how the Labor Department’s staffing shortages were hampering the latest inflation report. Even a whiff that an administration might be meddling in these government reports can spark alarm. My story showed that, for at least some reports, the administration is already doing so.

“Objectivity is really key here and the public depends on it,” Joe Glauber, a former USDA chief economist told me. “To lose that trust would be terrible.”

While the report is not currently required by statute, it has come out on time and largely in its current form for decades. My reporting — and that of Reuters, which had a good story on the delay a few days later — prompted concern among lawmakers.

During the debate over the proposed fiscal 2026 budget, Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) introduced an amendment requiring the USDA secretary to notify lawmakers “in writing 30 prior to cancelling, discontinuing, or otherwise suspending any analysis or reports.” Specifically, the amendment also required the government trade forecast in question be published “Not later than the end of each fiscal quarter,” including all the “accompanying analysis.”

It failed 26-35. No surprise there.

Also last week, during a five-hour testimony in front of the House Agriculture Committee, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also faced questions from Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) about the report’s delay.

Here’s an excerpt, edited for length, of their exchange:

Rep. Brown: Why was the report delayed and incomplete? And was the delay related to the report showing a worsening trade deficit in farm goods?

Sec. Rollins: I will look into that and get back to you. It's my understanding that we wanted to make sure it was complete, that the citations were correct and that the review was done in total.

Rep. Brown: Did your team remove the explanatory text from the report specifically because it attributed to the growing trade deficit to the Trump administration's tariff regime?

Sec. Rollins: It is my understanding that that was not the case, but we'll look into that.

Rep. Brown: Will you commit to publishing data and reports that are complete and free from tampering of the underlying data?

Sec. Rollins: We just have to make sure our internal review process is in place, but yes, we will work around the clock to ensure it is the correct data that gets out at the right time to make the most impact for our farmers and ranchers.

The next agricultural trade outlook is due Aug. 28.

One more read:

Michelle Obama was once vilified by the right for pushing healthier school lunches and a ban on trans fats. Now, the same issues of diet-related chronic disease have been embraced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

I called her top nutrition adviser and former White House chef Sam Kass to see what he makes of this brave new world and why Democrats have lost ground with voters who want access to healthy and safe foods.

“If there’s some common ground to be found with Republicans, then great. We could get a lot done,” he told me. “But we can’t just turn over the keys to this issue to people who are not serious.”

Read our conversation for POLITICO Magazine in full here.

The latest on the “Big, Beautiful Bill” for food and agriculture: My colleagues Grace Yarrow and Meredith Lee Hill have the latest on the proposed SNAP cuts.

Help me close my tabs:

The hidden cost of your supermarket sea bass - The Guardian

This overlooked cause of PTSD is only going to get worse - Vox

The Dizzying Rise of MAHA Warrior Calley Means, RFK Jr.’s Right-Hand Man - Vanity Fair

John Deere’s Plans for Offsetting $500 million in tariffs costs - The Wall Street Journal

The Fish that Climbed a Mountain - Long Reads

FTC dismisses lawsuit against PepsiCo that was filed by Biden-era FTC - Associated Press

History You Can Eat - The New York Times

Currently cooking:

NYT Cooking’s green pasta salad Delicious hot or cold!

Currently reading:

House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. And here’s her great interview in The New York Times if you missed it.

No Longer Newsworthy by Christopher R. Martin

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter,and Bluesky. Do you think I should join another social media platform? Tell me!

The last few weeks have been a testament to how broad the food and agriculture beat can be. I’ve written about climate change, food dyes, tariffs and bird flu. More below.

A little background on me for new subscribers: I got my start in journalism as a writing fellow for The American Prospect, where I wrote about immigration, labor and criminal justice. Then, I worked for The Capitol Forum covering anti-monopoly policy before moving to POLITICO. I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for more than five years, and I grew up outside of Cleveland.

Here’s what I wrote:

This week, the House passed the “Big, Beautiful Bill” by one vote. If passed by the Senate, it would be arguably the most significant structural change to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, since the program began. The bill would push a big chunk of the costs onto states, tighten work requirements, further limit access to lawfully present immigrants and more. (I’ll leave the BBB’s details on Medicaid and more to my colleagues.)

Changes to work requirements alone would kick 3.2 million people out of SNAP, CBO says. Experts told me the bill will also have ripple effects, such as making it harder for eligible low-income kids to access free school meals. Overall, the plan would slash $300 billion in federal spending on SNAP.

On air: I talked about all of this — and major cuts to popular local foods programs — on NPR’s 1A program with host Jenn White.

MAHA GOES BIG: Even as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. oversees thousands of firings secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, his influence and popularity appears to be growing. And he’s increasingly wielding that influence beyond the traditional authority of HHS, seeking to cut junk food from anti-hunger programs at the Agriculture Department and gearing up to go after pesticides, which are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, as my colleague Adam Cancryn and I wrote. And another layer: The White House views Kennedy’s influence as key to winning the midterms.

Kennedy is also barnstorming across the country, urging states cut soda from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to pass laws banning food dyes and to generally advance the MAHA agenda, as my colleague Adam Wren and I reported.

This week, the MAHA Commission’s Report arrived — to mixed reactions. And USDA approved the first state plan to ban soda from SNAP.

TRUMP’S TARIFFS: It’s been a wild ride when it comes to President Trump’s tariff policy. While the details of the tariffs Trump has imposed on China and other countries continue to be in flux, the economic reality for farmers is clear: The farm economy is not as strong as it was during Trump’s first trade war, and that could mean serious economic pain in rural America.

And Phelim Kine, Ben Lefebvre and I reported about how China is already moving to shut down U.S. imports, even without tariffs.

On air: I was also on San Francisco’s KQED The Forum with host Mina Kim to talk about how Trump’s tariffs are poised to evaporate international markets for some key farm commodities.

Other stories I wrote:

• Money initially earmarked for local foods programs was repurposed for USDA’s bird flu response, Grace Yarrow and I reported.

• More than 15,000 employees across USDA decided to take the Trump administration’s offer to leave.

• DOGE is now approving some farm loans. (Paywalled)

• USDA canceled major international food aid grants in the McGovern-Dole program that provide school meals in foreign countries, Ben Johansen and I wrote.

• USDA, among other federal buildings, will be housing federal troops for several days for President Donald Trump’s birthday parade. (Paywalled)

Help me close my tabs:

Here’s a new section of the newsletter which will (hopefully) help me close all the tabs I have open on my (exhausted) computer. A selection of stories I’m reading and have now closed the tab on:

Defector Magazine: An Interview with a Fired USDA Program Coordinator

The New Republic: Leaked Memo Reveals Insane Ban on Words Department of Agriculture Can Say

Bon Appetit: 6 Common Food Additives You Should Know About

The Atlantic: America is Done Pretending About Meat

The Wall Street Journal: Chipotle Went on a Seven-Year Quest to Find Avocados Outside of Mexico (gift link)

Mother Jones: Immigrants on the Line

The Washington Post’s interactive food prices tracker

Currently reading:

We Are Eating the Earth by Michael Grunwald (I have an advanced reader copy.)

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Currently cooking

Italian White Bean and Tuna Salad from the Rancho Gordo’s The Bean Book. Refreshing for spring.

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter,and Bluesky. Do you think I should join another social media platform? Tell me!

A lot has changed since I wrote my first newsletter right before Inauguration Day. The Trump administration is moving incredibly fast to implement its agenda on all fronts. In this edition, I’ll try to catch you up on the latest in food and agriculture world.

A little background on me for new subscribers: I got my start in journalism as a writing fellow for The American Prospect, where I wrote about immigration, labor and criminal justice. Then, I worked for The Capitol Forum covering anti-monopoly policy before moving to POLITICO. I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for more than five years, and I grew up outside of Cleveland.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS: Within days of assuming the presidency, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies across the government to freeze billions in federal spending on environmental, climate, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

While the administration maintained that this funding freeze did not halt direct payments to individuals, thousands of farmers soon called foul. Major conservation and other cost-share or grant programs were put on ice, sending farmers and ranchers scrambling as the bills began to pile up.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who was confirmed two weeks ago, has now released $20 million in some of this funding after reviewing it, and said that she was freeing up even more spending. But some farmers say they’re still not getting money they’re owed — and they sued USDA to demand it.

Farmers emphasized to me that this was not just grant money. To participate in many of these programs, like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, farmers and ranchers front the money, and then after an inspection from a USDA employee confirming they held up their end of the contract, USDA disburses the funds. In other words, farmers made business decisions, took risks or expanded their businesses based on a promise that the government would help shoulder the cost. Sometimes, those decisions involved farmers taking out a private loan to fulfill their end of a contract. A lot of farmers don’t have the cash if the government doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain.

And, even if the Trump administration ultimately releases a lot of this money back to farmers, farmers need to make payments on loans and buy seed and fertilizer now. The delay at USDA could force farmers to borrow additional money at unfavorable terms, yet another unexpected cost.

FIRING/REHIRING: One of the most important stories right now is the purge of thousands of federal employees, including at the Agriculture Department. After urging employees to take a so-called “buyout” offer, the administration — in close consultation with Elon Musk’s DOGE — then moved to fire thousands of employees still on “probationary” status.

As I first reported, even a critical office responding to the worsening outbreak of bird flu lost 25 percent of its staff in the firings. USDA admitted to “accidentally” firing them among other employees handling the federal bird flu response and vowed to hire them back. But it’s not as easy to rehire workers as it is to fire them. (The administration also fired nuclear safety workers and is trying to coax them back.)

While many of these workers had only been hired within the last year, many had also recently been promoted, or made a lateral move, or their probationary status was two or even three years, in the case of some USDA scientists I spoke to. One fired U.S. Forest Service employee told me she had recently changed jobs after 10 years as a federal employee in order to take a role where she would have health insurance.

While several federal courts have now ordered the administration to rehire probationary employees it fired, the administration is also teeing up “reduction in force” plans, the government’s term for layoffs. That means that many of the same probationary employees could lose their jobs again.

Other stories I wrote:

• USDA slashed funding for two popular pandemic-era programs that gave money to schools, food banks and child care facilities to buy food from local farms. This was the most-read story on politico.com last week.

• RFK Jr. had an awkward meeting with some of the world’s biggest food companies. (With my colleague Adam Cancryn)

• USDA was ordered to scrub climate change from its website. (With my colleague Zack Colman)

• Thousands of Forest Service employees were fired as part of the federal employee purge. (With my colleague Jordan Wolman) My colleagues Natalie Fertig and Jordan reported that the firings, despite excluding workers with firefighters in their title, are expected to have a drastic effect on preparation for wildfire season and even combating a blaze. (Paywalled)

• Like the bird flu employees, USDA is now working to bring back fired loan employees with the Farm Service Agency. USDA is commonly referred to as the “lender of last resort” for farmers but FSA is notoriously understaffed. Lawmakers of both parties have pushed it to hire more people, and the Biden administration did ramp up hiring in response. But FSA jobs often pay half what these workers could get in the private sector, so some fired employees are opting not to return to what’s now viewed as an unstable job. (Paywalled)

• USDA paused — and then after public outcry — restarted a popular scholarship program for high-achieving students who attend an HBCU and plan to study natural resources, food systems and other related disciplines. (Paywalled)

Latest appearances:

I was also on CBS News to talk about the end of two USDA local food programs and I interviewed Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith for POLITICO’s agriculture event. My colleague Meredith Lee Hill interviewed Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska for the same event.

Excited to cook:

I admittedly haven’t been cooking as much in the last month or so but I really want to make this French Onion Orecchiette. (Recipe from New York Times Cooking)

Currently reading:

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (1995). Haunting.

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com or get in touch securely on Signal at marciagbrown.68. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter,and Bluesky. Do you think I should join another social media platform? Tell me!

I’m starting this newsletter in part to reach folks who don’t go to the homepages of news publications every day but still want to know what’s going on. This will mainly be about food news, but I occasionally write about other issues, too.

A little background on me: I got my start in journalism as a writing fellow for The American Prospect, where I wrote about immigration, labor and criminal justice. Then, I worked for The Capitol Forum covering anti-monopoly policy before moving to POLITICO. I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for more than five years, and I grew up outside of Cleveland.

Here’s what I wrote recently:

On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission sued one of the nation’s biggest tractor makers, the iconic green and yellow John Deere. In the lawsuit, Chair Lina Khan alleges the company illegally restricted farmers’ and independent technicians’ ability to fix their equipment. Think $100,000+ tractors and combines that require regular and extensive maintenance. (The company denies the allegations.)

The lawsuit is a watershed moment in the right-to-repair movement, which wants to make it easier and cheaper for people to fix their stuff. I’ve been covering the movement’s pressure campaign against Deere for years now. I broke the news in 2022 that the FTC was opening an inquiry into Deere over these same repair issues. Farmers have been a particularly vocal group in the right-to-repair movement: An inability to fix their tractors could mean their harvest rots in the field, costing them thousands of dollars. Farmers also love to tinker, and as farm equipment has become increasingly computerized, manufacturers have put new software limits on the changes and repairs they can make to their equipment.

The FTC’s lawsuit comes at a critical moment. While some states have passed right-to-repair legislation, federal bills have stalled. Khan departs when President-elect Trump takes office, but it may be politically difficult for the incoming FTC Republican majority to put the proverbial genie back in the bottle. Put simply, making repair easier is really popular.

The FTC has been busy in the final days of the Biden administration, suing America’s biggest alcohol distributor, Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, and PepsiCo for allegedly violating price discrimination laws. That’s not to mention what the commission has done just in the last few weeks on pharmacy benefit managers, large landlords, and the use of precise location data.

It’s unclear what the future holds for the FTC’s lawsuits in a Trump administration. There are lots of outstanding questions about whether Trump’s pro-enforcement nominees for antitrust positions in the administration will be empowered to … enforce. More on that from me here.

In other food news:

The Biden administration has scambled to tick off dozens of items on their to-do list. This is just a small sampling from the last two months.

-The Food and Drug Administration banned Red Dye No. 3, a food additive that’s been linked to cancer in rats. It’s been in the works for well over a decade and is a target of RFK Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement. (paywalled)

-The FDA also finished a new definition “healthy” so that foods like salmon and olive oil count. Your yogurt with fruit on the bottom might not. (paywalled)

-And the FDA proposed new labeling requirements that would go on the front of most packaged foods. This front-of-pack labeling proposal — which looks a lot like a mini Nutrition Facts panel — is part of a push to counter Americans’ skyrocketing rates of diet-related chronic disease. (paywalled)

-The Agriculture Department also finalized a regulation to protect chicken farmers, people who raise birds for meat on contract for large poultry companies like Tyson and Perdue. The rule bans base pay deductions based on performance, a change that is expected to give farmers a more consistent paycheck. (paywalled)

Oh, and about that guy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:

I’ve written about how the food industry is already arming for battle against him, how he could reshape the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and about how some senators — Republican and Democrat — see common ground with him on food issues. It seems quite possible he’ll be confirmed, potentially reshaping the food world for years.

Currently cooking:

“Beans in Purgatory” from The Bean Book, a Rancho Gordo cookbook. (No, I haven’t made into the elusive and exclusive Bean Club yet.) The perfect filling yet light recipe for a cold day.

Currently reading:

Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen (shoutout to my family for the Christmas gift!)

Have feedback? Ideas? Tips? Reading recs?

Email me at marciabrown@politico.com. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter, and Bluesky.