# Department of Agriculture *Federal executive department whose Food and Nutrition Service funds the child-nutrition programs at issue in the Minnesota record* The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a federal executive department led by the secretary of agriculture, who reports to the president and sits in the Cabinet. Brooke Rollins has held the post since February 13, 2025.[^1] Wikipedia summarizes the department's aims as serving farm and livestock production, promoting agricultural trade, assuring food safety, protecting natural resources, supporting rural communities, and working to end hunger. It reports that about 71% of a $213 billion budget goes to nutrition programs run by the [[Food and Nutrition Service]] (FNS).[^1][^2] In the [[Minnesota]] record, the department appears as the federal funder and rule-maker of two child-nutrition programs. These are the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which is governed by 7 C.F.R. Part 225.[^3] In Minnesota both programs were administered by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). In June 2024 the Office of the Legislative Auditor found that MDE "failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic" in its oversight of [[Feeding Our Future]].[^4] During the pandemic, FNS issued nationwide waivers for these programs. They extended non-congregate meal service and allowed flexibility in SFSP site monitoring, including a site-monitoring waiver dated June 1, 2020.[^5][^6] The department's own record also includes outcomes in court and in settlement. In 1999 USDA settled *Pigford v. Glickman*, a class action brought by African American farmers. In 2011 Congress appropriated a second round of payments, Pigford II, of $1.25 billion. In 2021 a federal court preliminarily enjoined a USDA loan-forgiveness program in *Wynn v. Vilsack*.[^1][^7] The project's at-issue ledger carries one entry on the department, concerning the availability of its program-history pages.[^8] ## Who The secretary of agriculture heads the department. Wikipedia names Brooke Rollins as secretary since February 13, 2025, and Tom Vilsack as secretary in 2011.[^1] The department is divided into eight mission areas, each with at least one agency. FNS belongs to the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services area. The National Agricultural Statistics Service, which publishes state-level statistics including Minnesota's, belongs to Research, Education, and Economics.[^1][^9] The USDA Office of Inspector General holds federal audit authority over the department's programs, including those of FNS.[^10] ## What FNS operates the department's food-distribution and nutrition-education programs. The largest is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the Food Stamp program.[^1] The child-nutrition programs at issue in Minnesota trace to Public Law 90-302 (82 Stat. 117). Its section headed "SPECIAL FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN" reached "child day-care centers, settlement houses, or recreation centers," and §13(a)(2) extended coverage to summer programs.[^11] An Institute of Medicine volume states: "In 1968, CACFP began as a small 3-year pilot program called the Special Food Service Program for Children."[^12] FNS now administers the SFSP and publishes its handbooks, guidance and regulations under 7 C.F.R. Part 225.[^13][^3] The department's stated commitments sit beside a documented record. According to Wikipedia, USDA's 2012 [[Environmental justice]] strategy said it intended to build environmental justice into its core mission, yet the department has no staff assigned solely to that work.[^1] Wikipedia also records allegations that department personnel denied loans and program access to farmers of various backgrounds into the 1990s, mostly through the Farm Service Agency. It records that USDA formally ended segregation of its staff as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.[^1] Two federal court decisions concern USDA programs. In *Wynn v. Vilsack*, 545 F. Supp. 3d 1271 (M.D. Fla. 2021), the court preliminarily enjoined a USDA loan-forgiveness program that the project's claim:link row describes as race-conscious.[^7] Another claim:link row records that *Ultima Services Corp. v. USDA* (E.D. Tenn. 2023) struck down the race presumption in the Small Business Administration's Section 8(a) program. The pack cites only the govinfo.gov home page for that decision.[^14] ## When - 1839: Congress created an Agricultural Division in the Patent Office and allotted it $1,000.[^1] - May 15, 1862: Abraham Lincoln established the independent Department of Agriculture.[^1] - 1946 and 1966: the National School Lunch Act (PL 79-396) and the Child Nutrition Act (PL 89-642) appear in Wikipedia's list of legislation setting USDA policy.[^1] - May 8, 1968: Public Law 90-302 was enacted.[^11] - 1999 and 2011: the *Pigford v. Glickman* settlement was reached, and Congress appropriated Pigford II.[^1] - February 7, 2012: USDA released its final Environmental Justice Strategic Plan, updating a 1995 strategy.[^1] - June 1, 2020: FNS issued an SFSP site-monitoring flexibility waiver. On the same date it issued Policy Memo SP 09-2020, a nationwide waiver on first-week SFSP site visits.[^6][^15] - September 8, 2020: USDA announced in a press release that free meals for children would continue through December 31, 2020.[^16] - 2021: the court in *Wynn v. Vilsack* entered its preliminary injunction.[^7] - June 2024: the Office of the Legislative Auditor issued its review of MDE's oversight of Feeding Our Future.[^4] - February 13, 2025: Brooke Rollins took office as secretary.[^1] - March 2025: the White House issued the presidential action *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos*.[^8] ## How FNS carried out its pandemic changes through numbered nationwide waivers, responses and question-and-answer documents posted on its child-nutrition COVID-19 pages.[^17][^18] These instruments included: - Extension #2 of the non-congregate feeding waiver for child-nutrition programs; - a later non-congregate extension, Extension 5; - Waiver #15; - questions and answers on running SFSP and Seamless Summer through school year 2020–21.[^5][^19][^20][^21] For the SFSP specifically, FNS allowed site-monitoring flexibility. In Policy Memo SP 09-2020 it waived requirements on first-week site visits.[^6][^15] The pack identifies these instruments by title. It does not carry their operative text. ## How much - About 71% of USDA's $213 billion budget goes to FNS nutrition assistance, as reported by Wikipedia.[^1] - Public Law 90-302 authorized $32,000,000 for each of three fiscal years.[^11] - Pigford II was appropriated at $1.25 billion in 2011.[^1] - The project's validation report summarizes the Legislative Auditor's review as reporting "four of ten FY2021 nonprofit dollars" and $140.3 million.[^4] ## How many - USDA has eight mission areas.[^1] - According to Wikipedia, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program serves more than 40 million low-income and homeless people each month.[^1] - The Legislative Auditor's review reports 194 sites and 11.8 million meals in April 2021.[^4] ## In the at-issue record The ledger entry [[At issue 087 - USDA's own legislative-history pages for CACFP and the]] makes three statements: - USDA's legislative-history pages for CACFP and the SFSP have been deleted. - The agency has been renamed, and the old URLs return an archived-content notice. - As a result, the programs' lineage can now be traced only through the Statutes at Large. The entry's anchor is the March 2025 presidential action on eliminating information silos.[^8] Its listed sources are the 1968 statute and the Institute of Medicine volume.[^11][^12] The pack does not include the archived pages themselves. The deletion is therefore the entry's statement and is not established independently here.[^8] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - MDE was the administering agency for CACFP and SFSP in Minnesota.[^4] - Governor Tim Walz issued the state's COVID-19 peacetime emergency declaration, according to time-table row TL-0878.[^22] - Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the [[United States Department of Justice]] lawsuit against Minnesota as a case of general public importance.[^23] ### What - The Legislative Auditor reviewed MDE's oversight of Feeding Our Future. It found that the department "failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic."[^4] - The [[United States Department of Justice]] filed a lawsuit against the State, which is a separate federal action from USDA's. DOJ release No. 26-21 is titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*. The pack does not carry the docket number or the case's status.[^23] - The project's catalogue of U.S.-government "regime" usages finds no other U.S. state described in those terms. This is the project's catalogue finding, not an independently established fact.[^23] - The lawsuit concerns [[Affirmative action]] policy.[^23] ### When - March 13, 2020: time-table row TL-0878 dates Executive Order 20-1 to this day. The row records that the COVID emergency declarations triggered USDA child-nutrition waivers under which in-person meal service was not required.[^22] - 2020: FNS maintained a Minnesota-specific COVID-19 disaster-assistance page.[^24] - January 14, 2026: DOJ issued release No. 26-21.[^23] ### Where - A project claim:link row cites the National Agricultural Statistics Service's Minnesota page for the State's standing as a top U.S. agricultural producer.[^9] ### How - News9 reported that USDA suspended federal financial awards to Minnesota and Minneapolis. The pack carries no USDA document or date for this action, so the report is attributed and not stated as settled.[^25] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *United States Department of Agriculture* (rev. 1381561114, retrieved 2026-10-27) — leadership, aims, budget share, mission areas, history, Pigford, environmental-justice strategy, legislation list. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture [^2]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Food and Nutrition Service* (n.d.) — FNS as the USDA agency for federal nutrition programs. https://www.fns.usda.gov/ [^3]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *SFSP Handbooks, Guidance and Program Regulations* (n.d.) — SFSP regulations, 7 C.F.R. Part 225. https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/handbooks-guidance-and-program-regulations [^4]: Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, *MDE Oversight of Feeding Our Future* (June 2024) — CACFP and SFSP; MDE as administering agency; the warning-signs finding; four of ten FY2021 nonprofit dollars / $140.3M; 194 sites and 11.8M meals in April 2021. https://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/sreview/pdf/2024-mdefof.pdf [^5]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Nationwide Waiver Extension #2: Non-Congregate Feeding in the Child Nutrition Programs* (2020) — non-congregate feeding waiver extension. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/nationwide-waiver-extension2-non-congregate-feeding-child-nutrition-programs [^6]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Nationwide Waiver to Allow Site Monitoring Flexibility in the Summer Food Service Program* (June 1, 2020) — SFSP site-monitoring waiver. https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/covid19/sites-monitoring [^7]: U.S. District Court, M.D. Fla., *Wynn v. Vilsack*, 545 F. Supp. 3d 1271 (2021) — preliminary injunction against a USDA loan-forgiveness program. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flmdce/3:2021cv00514/391650/35/ [^8]: Executive Office of the President, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — anchor of at-issue entry AI-087. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^9]: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, *Statistics by State: Minnesota* (n.d.) — Minnesota agricultural statistics. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Minnesota/ [^10]: USDA Office of Inspector General, *Office of Inspector General* (n.d.) — federal audit authority over USDA programs. https://www.usda.gov/oig [^11]: U.S. Congress, *Public Law 90-302, 82 Stat. 117* (May 8, 1968) — "SPECIAL FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN" heading; $32,000,000 for each of three fiscal years; covered-institution language; §13(a)(2) summer coverage. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-82/pdf/STATUTE-82-Pg117.pdf [^12]: Institute of Medicine, *Child and Adult Care Food Program* (2011), NCBI Bookshelf — CACFP's 1968 origin as a three-year pilot. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209814/ [^13]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Summer Food Service Program* (n.d.) — FNS administration of the SFSP. https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp [^14]: U.S. District Court, E.D. Tenn., *Ultima Services Corp. v. USDA* (2023), as recorded in project claim:link row 29 — Section 8(a) race presumption struck down; the pack's URL is the govinfo.gov home page only. https://www.govinfo.gov/ [^15]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Policy Memo SP 09-2020: Nationwide Waiver of First Week Site Visits in the SFSP* (June 1, 2020) — first-week site-visit waiver. https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/covid-19/nationwide-waiver-first-week-site-visits-sfsp [^16]: U.S. Department of Agriculture, *USDA Extends Free Meals for Kids through December 31, 2020* (Sept. 8, 2020) — extension of free child meals. https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2020/09/08/wtas-usda-extends-free-meals-kids-through-december-31-2020 [^17]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Child Nutrition COVID-19 Waivers* (n.d.) — index of child-nutrition COVID-19 waivers. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/covid-19/waivers [^18]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Child Nutrition Programs: COVID-19* (n.d.) — FNS COVID-19 child-nutrition page. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/covid-19 [^19]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *COVID-19 Child Nutrition Response #61* (n.d.) — non-congregate Extension 5. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/covid-19-child-nutrition-response-61 [^20]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *COVID-19 Child Nutrition Response #15* (2020) — Waiver #15. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/covid-19-child-nutrition-response-15 [^21]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *Q&As #2: Nationwide Waiver for SFSP and Seamless Summer through SY 2020–21* (2020) — SFSP/Seamless Summer operation through SY 2020–21. https://www.fns.usda.gov/disaster/pandemic/covid-19/qas2-nationwide-waiver-sfsp-seamless-summer-through-sy-2020-21 [^22]: Office of the Governor of Minnesota, *Executive Orders* (page path EO 20-20, Apr. 8, 2020), as cited by time-table row TL-0878 — the row's date of March 13, 2020 for EO 20-1 and the USDA waiver linkage. https://mn.gov/governor/news/executiveorders/2020-04-08-eo-20-20/ [^23]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, release No. 26-21 (Jan. 14, 2026) — title; Attorney General Bondi's certification. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime [^24]: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, *FNS Disaster Assistance: COVID-19, Minnesota* (n.d.) — Minnesota COVID-19 program flexibilities. https://www.fns.usda.gov/disaster/pandemic/covid-19/minnesota [^25]: News9, *USDA suspends federal financial awards* (n.d.) — news report of USDA suspension of awards to Minnesota and Minneapolis. https://newschannel9.com/news/nation-world/enough-is-enough-usda-suspends-federal-financial-awards-to-minnesota-and-minneapolis-fraud-scheme-investigation-governor-tim-walz-mayor-jacob-frey-nick-shirley-feeding-our-children-food-programs