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US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Last updated

 As of August 2025, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is undergoing restructuring. This guide reflects USDA’s structure as of January 2025.

Overview

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) safeguards the nation’s agriculture, food supply, and rural communities. USDA encompasses agencies and manages various programs that cover farm production, conservation, nutrition programs, food safety, marketing, animal welfare, forestry, agricultural research, rural development, international trade, and more.

USDA does significant work on food biotechnology and innovation, including in areas like alternative protein, crop cultivation, and genetically engineered (GE) crops. Through agencies such as the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA has the capacity and talent to advance food-related research and development (R&D). The Department also plays a role in regulating certain food products—alongside the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—including cell-cultivated meat, and can support the agricultural industry through loans, grants, and other funding sources, which can accelerate companies’ efforts related to research, manufacturing, and more.

USDA is also relevant to biosecurity through its efforts to protect the US from a range of threats to animal, plant, and human health, helping maintain the integrity of the food supply. Working through agencies such as the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), USDA prevents the spread of pests and pathogens that impact crops and livestock, protects against animal-to-human (zoonotic) diseases, and collaborates with the CDC on the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) to regulate high-risk pathogens. Additionally, USDA, in collaboration with other agencies—most prominently the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—holds responsibility for responding to events that could disrupt the agricultural supply chain, such as agroterrorism, pandemics, or other large-scale emergencies.

Source: USASpending

Background on USDA

  • Government context: USDA is one of 15 executive departments in the US government; the Secretary is a member of the US president’s cabinet
  • Mission: provide leadership in food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, and nutrition by fostering innovation, promoting agricultural production to nourish Americans and feed the world, and conserving the nation’s natural resources through effective management and science-based policy
  • Main activities: supporting agricultural production, ensuring food safety, promoting rural development, managing natural resources, and providing nutrition assistance
  • Budget: ~$467 billion (FY 2024)
  • Staff: ~100,000 employees across 4,500 locations, one of the largest federal departments 
  • Brief history: founded by President Lincoln in 1862 as “The People’s Department,” USDA initially focused on supporting farmers through research and seed distribution. Over time, its role expanded significantly with milestones such as the Cooperative Extension Service in 1914, New Deal programs in the 1930s, and increased responsibilities in food safety and nutrition, including the Food Stamp Program in the 1960s.
  • Dep. of Agriculture Agency Performance Dashboard, Partnership for Public Services

Organizational structure

USDA comprises 29 agencies, most of which are organized into eight mission areas, including: 

  1. Farm Production and Conservation
  2. Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
  3. Food Safety
  4. Marketing and Regulatory Programs
  5. Natural Resources and Environment
  6. Research, Education, and Economics
  7. Rural Development
  8. Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs

Each mission area is typically led by a Senate-confirmed Under Secretary and is responsible for strategic planning, policy development, and program implementation in its designated topic area. 

There are also about a dozen staff offices, which provide support functions and administrative services that benefit the entire department (finance, communications, program analysis, etc.).

Source: USDA

Food biotechnology and innovation at USDA

USDA, alongside other federal agencies, plays an important role in advancing food biotechnology and innovation, particularly in areas such as alternative proteins, GE crops, and novel food production. Biotech and bioeconomy work at USDA also extends beyond food-related applications to include areas like bioenergy, soil remediation, and other environmental innovations. 

Key USDA activities related to food biotechnology and innovation include:

  • Research funding: USDA provides grants and funding opportunities for research into novel food technologies, such as alternative proteins and GE crops, through agencies such as NIFA and ARS. USDA has invested substantially into food innovation R&D, including:
    • $17 million through NIFA for research on plant-based proteins, cell-cultivated meat and seafood, and other food products for human consumption. This includes $10 million through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to Tufts University to establish the National Institute for Cellular Agriculture.
    • $31.2 million through ARS across more than a dozen locations and at least 18 research projects.
    • $5.3 million through NIFA’s Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grants (BRAG) to support regulatory agencies in making science-based decisions on the environmental impact of GE organisms.
  • Market development: USDA is one of the agencies that runs the Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer Programs (SBIR/STTR), offering “grants to qualified small businesses to support high-quality research related to important scientific problems and opportunities in agriculture that could lead to significant public benefits.” See this explainer for more details on the SBIR/STTR program, which explains that “multiple alternative protein businesses have received SBIR and STTR grants from various federal entities.”
  • Regulatory oversight: In collaboration with the FDA, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is developing a regulatory framework for cell-cultured meat and poultry products to ensure their safety and proper labeling (see this June 2023 directive for details). In addition, APHIS sets and implements regulations on GE crops in collaboration with FDA and the EPA (see this explainer).
    • In June 2023, FSIS issued labeling approval and grants of inspection to Upside Foods and GOOD Meat, two companies producing cell-cultivated poultry products.

For information on USDA’s activities related to alternative proteins, see the transcript of this May 2023 CSIS event with a USDA official. Additionally, for an overview of some of FSIS’s activities on cell-cultivated meat, see this USDA page and this CRS report from September 2023.

White House workstreams focused on food biotech and innovation

  • May 2024: the White House released the Climate Capital Guidebook, which includes funding opportunities for the alternative protein sector.
  • March 2023: the White House releases the report “Bold Goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing: Harnessing Research and Development to Further Societal Goals,” highlighting the goal of researching alternative protein products and spurring novel food sources. It outlines the goal to “engineer more efficient protein production systems,” specifically to, “in 5 years, demonstrate viable pathways to produce protein for food consumption including from biomass, waste, and CO2 that achieve >50% lifecycle GHG emissions reduction and cost parity relative to current production methods.”
  • September 2022: the White House issued an Executive Order to “Advance Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy”, calling on USDA to assess and expand the use of biotechnology and biomanufacturing in food and agriculture, develop strategies for building a resilient biomass supply chain, support sustainable land practices, enhance food security, and foster a vibrant domestic biomanufacturing ecosystem while prioritizing equity and environmental sustainability.
  • June 2022: The FY23 House appropriations report (pg. 116-117) included language about “alternative protein research,” directing the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to establish an interagency group under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to “to provide recommendations on coordination and support of alternative protein research and development throughout the Federal Government.” The report also notes that “this research is multidisciplinary and involves multiple Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.”

Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness at USDA

At USDA, biosecurity involves protecting against panzootics (widespread animal diseases), panphytotics (widespread plant diseases), and zoonotic diseases (animal diseases that can spread to humans). This includes managing the entry or spread of diseases, pests, and invasive species that threaten agriculture and public health.

Several USDA agencies and offices play a role in biosecurity, but much of this responsibility lies with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The agency protects and promotes US agricultural health by safeguarding animals, plants, and ecosystems from pests and diseases, ensuring both the safe production and movement of agricultural goods and protecting the US from biological risks. APHIS also regulates genetically engineered (GE) crops—as the agency oversees organisms with pest-like traits and pathogens that are sometimes used in traditional GE techniques—and ensures the welfare of animals used for research, exhibition, and transport. APHIS, and USDA more broadly, employs a “One Health” approach, which refers to the linkages between human, veterinary, and environmental health.

In addition, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for “food defense”, protecting “food products from contamination or adulteration intended to cause public health harm or economic disruption,” which can include pathogenic attack vectors. NIFA supports biosecurity by funding research, education, and technology to combat agricultural threats such as pests, diseases, and contaminants and researching GE crops. USDA’s Office of Homeland Security (OHS) leads the Department’s preparedness and response efforts, coordinating security policies and training to protect agricultural and food systems.

USDA’s biosecurity responsibilities encompass many activities, including:

  • Animal-to-human disease transmission prevention: Implementing strategies to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases from animals to humans, including surveillance, containment, and control measures to safeguard public health.
  • Food defense and supply chain resilience: Protecting against risks to the food supply chain as critical infrastructure, including during public health emergencies like pandemics. This can involve enforcing safety protocols, operating monitoring systems, running producer assistance programs, and providing supply chain support to ensure secure and continuous production and distribution of food products.
  • Biosafety: Alongside CDC, USDA co-manages the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP), which regulates the possession, use, and transfer of biological agents and toxins that threaten public, animal, or plant health.
  • Animal, plant, and ecological health protection: Addressing diseases, invasive species, and environmental risks that impact agricultural systems and natural ecosystems. This includes specialized surveillance, containment, and management of animal and plant diseases to preserve biodiversity, maintain ecological stability, and protect agricultural productivity, ultimately supporting both human and environmental health as interconnected systems

2022 National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan

In 2022, the White House published the government-wide National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan, which provides a helpful overview of the role of departments and agencies in US biosecurity planning. The plan assigns a (co-)lead role to USDA for many responsibilities across each of its five goals.

USDA responsibilities from the 2022 National Biodefense Strategy

  1. GOAL 2 (p. 22): Ensure biodefense enterprise capabilities to prevent bio incidents. 
    • 2.1.1. Strengthen Country Capacities (Lead)
    • 2.2.1. Promote Safe and Secure Biological Laboratories and Practices (Lead)
    • 2.2.2. Strengthen Responsible Conduct for Biological Research (Lead)
    • 2.2.3. Accelerate biosafety and biosecurity innovation (Support)
    • 2.2.5 Reduce Zoonotic Pathogen Spillover (Lead)
  2. GOAL 3 (p. 26): Ensure biodefense enterprise preparedness to reduce the impacts of bioincidents
    • 3.1.1. Invest in Domestic Public Health Capacities (Lead)
    • 3.1.2. Strengthen Capacities to Combat Emerging and Zoonotic Disease (Lead)
    • 3.1.3. Promote Evidence-Based Health Communication to the Public (Lead)
    • 3.1.4. Strengthen Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antibiotic Resistant Pathogens Capabilities (Lead)
    • 3.2.3. Rapid, Low Cost, Point-of-Need Tests (Support)
    • 3.3.1. PPE Capacity (Lead)
    • 3.3.2. PPE Innovation (Support)
    • 3.4.4. Vaccine Administration and Allocation (Support)
    • 3.5.3. Controlling Counterproductive Responses to Infection (Support)
  1. GOAL 4 (p. 33): Rapidly respond to limit the impacts of bioincidents
    • 4.1.1. Effective Response to Mitigate Biological Incidents (Lead)
    • 4.1.3 Coordinate Real-Time Research for Response (Lead)
  1. GOAL 5 (p. 35): Facilitate recovery to restore the community, the economy, and the environment after a bioincident
    • 5.1.1. Recovery Planning and Implementation (Lead)

USDA has a long history of working on biosafety and biosecurity, initially focusing on combating animal and plant diseases like foot-and-mouth disease and bovine tuberculosis in the early 20th century. The creation of APHIS in 1972 formalized these efforts, addressing pests, diseases, and other agricultural threats. In the 1990s and early 2000s, USDA expanded its biosecurity initiatives to include agroterrorism and establish the National Plant Disease Recovery System, responding to increasing concerns about bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases. USDA played a prominent role in the government response to Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) in 2006 and H1N1 (Swine Flu) in 2009.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA played an important role in maintaining the US food supply and supporting the agricultural sector. The Department implemented protocols in meatpacking and processing facilities with the goals of protecting workers and maintaining the food supply. USDA also provided financial relief to farmers, facilitated the distribution of emergency food, supported rural communities, and more.

Additional recent highlights are listed below (not comprehensive):

Major recent biosecurity-related activities at USDA

  • June 2024: The USDA secretary publishes an op-ed on the importance of biosecurity in combating the spread of H5N1.
  • May 2024: USDA announces $22.2 million in funding to protect animal health by enhancing “prevention, preparedness, early detection, and rapid response to the most damaging diseases that threaten U.S. livestock.”
  • March 2024: USDA and HHS jointly announce new actions to address H5N1. 
  • May 2023: The new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) opens in Manhattan, KS, which will replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC). NBAF was transferred from Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate to USDA. NBAF’s mission involves “developing vaccines, performing diagnostics, and developing countermeasures against large animal foreign animal diseases (FADs) and zoonotic diseases.”
  • November 2022: The White House issues the National Security Memorandum on Strengthening the Security and Resilience of the US Food and Agriculture (NSM-16). The memorandum establishes a federal strategy to protect and strengthen the resilience of US food and agriculture against high-impact threats, including CBRN hazards, cyber risks, and climate-related disruptions. It tasks USDA, as a Sector Risk Management Agency (SRMA), with coordinating risk assessments, response strategies, and information sharing to mitigate these threats.
  • October 2021: Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) under National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS) collaborate with universities to combat the spread of tar spot fungus in US corn by developing resistant crop varieties, optimizing fungicide use, and researching biological controls.

USDA offices working on biosecurity policy

Several USDA components work on biosecurity issues, including (not comprehensive): 

USDA offices working on biosecurity policy

  1. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS): aims to “protect the health of US agriculture and natural resources against invasive pests and diseases, regulate genetically engineered crops, [and] administer the Animal Welfare Act.”
    • Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ): Protects plant health from invasive pests and diseases.
      1. Division of Agricultural Select Agents and Toxins (DASAT): jointly manages the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) with the CDC. 
    • Veterinary Services (VS): focuses on animal disease control and eradication. VS manages the
      • National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS), which monitors for outbreaks of animal diseases; 
      • National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), a partnership of federal, state, and university labs with animal testing capacity, including the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), a joint ARS project; and
      • National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (NAVVCB), which maintains a strategic stockpile of vaccines and countermeasures for foot-and-mouth disease and other high-consequence animal diseases.
  2. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS): responsible for food defense, protecting “food products from contamination or adulteration intended to cause public health harm or economic disruption,” which can include pathogenic attack vectors.
    • Office of Public Health Science (OPHS): includes the Microbiological and Chemical Hazards Staff and the Applied Epidemiology Staff.
  3. National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA): aims to “invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges.” NIFA runs an agricultural biosecurity program to “protect the integrity, reliability, sustainability, and profitability of the US food and agricultural system against threats from pests, diseases, contaminants, and disasters.” Focus areas of the agricultural biosecurity program include:
    • Detection and Diagnostics: surveillance and early detection of high-consequence pests and diseases; timely deployment of technologies and human resources to respond, manage, and recover from outbreaks. This program includes the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN), “a national network of diagnostic laboratories that rapidly and accurately detect and report pathogens that cause plant diseases of national interest, particularly those that could be deemed to be a biosecurity risk”;
    • Regulatory Systems Support: critical research to inform federal regulations ensuring the safety and diversity of agricultural products; and
    • Deployment of new crop and animal production and protection technologies and management systems: research on effective tools to manage pests and diseases and science-based outreach to help producers respond to local and regional threats.
  4. Departmental Administration (DA): a collection of shared services that provide support across the Department. 
    • Office of Homeland Security (OHS): provides “Departmental executive leadership in government-wide initiatives and leads security, preparedness, and response efforts through training, coordination, and the development and execution of policies.”
  5. Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics (REE): responsible for advancing scientific knowledge related to agriculture. The below agencies have been involved in recent work related to the study of genetically engineered (GE) crops.
    • Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS): provides oversight of USDA’s scientific efforts, including supporting some work related to regulating GE crops. 
    • Agricultural Research Service (ARS): the largest intramural research agency of USDA, ARS conducts research to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability, including projects on GE crops.
    • National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA): advances agricultural research and education. Includes the Cooperative Extension System (CES) which aims to bridge lab research with practical applications.
  6. Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs
    • Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS): monitors and enforces international regulations and requirements, including sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, to prevent the spread of pests and diseases through agricultural trade.

Working at USDA

USDA offers many career opportunities across its various agencies and offices for candidates from diverse backgrounds. The Department is headquartered in Washington, DC, and APHIS offices are primarily in Riverdale, MD, although some positions are hybrid or remote. USDA also has offices across the US, with a larger presence in Kansas City, MI, and Fort Collins, CO. Some positions are also regionally based. As a civilian-oriented department, working at USDA typically does not require a full security clearance. 

For jobs at USDA, see the USDA careers page and USAJobs filtering for “Department of Agriculture.” APHIS also has a dedicated APHIS careers page, including a page for those early in their careers. USDA does particular outreach to students from Minority Serving Institutions (e.g. Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities), such as through the programs identified here.

Notable early-career opportunities (e.g. internships, fellowships) at USDA include:

There’s a list of fellowship and internship programs here, which are omitted from this narration.

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