CLIMATE 21 PROJECT Transition Memo Department of Agriculture

CLIMATE 21 PROJECT Transition Memo Department of Agriculture

C21_USDA.pdf (climate21.org)

LEAD AUTHORS Robert Bonnie, former Undersecretary at USDA Leslie Jones, former Deputy Undersecretary at USDA Meryl Harrell, former Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, USDA * Professional affiliations do not imply organizational endorsement of these recommendations Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 Summary of Recommendations 2 THE MEMO 1. Management, Budget, and Structure 3 2. Key Program Opportunities and Recommendations 8 3. Cross-Cutting Priorities and Relationships 14 4. Miscellaneous Recommendations 18 APPENDICES Appendix A: USDA Organization and Budget 19 Appendix B: High-Level Timeline 20 This memo is part of the Climate 21 Project, which taps the expertise of more than 150 experts with high-level government experience, including nine former cabinet appointees, to deliver actionable advice for a rapid-start, whole-of-government climate response coordinated by the White House and accountable to the President. The full set of Climate 21 Project memos is available at climate21.org. Climate 21 Project: Department of Agriculture | 1 CLIMATE 21 PROJECT Transition Memo Department of Agriculture Executive Summary Agriculture and forestry are central to climate mitigation and adaptation. The agriculture sector accounts for about 10% of current overall U.S. emissions, while U.S forests sequester the equivalent of about 15% of carbon dioxide emissions from combustion of U.S. fossil fuels annually. Through actions in both sectors, agriculture and forests can provide 10- 20% of the additional sequestration and emissions reductions needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has not historically been at the center of the public conversation on federal climate policy, the Department has enormous and underappreciated discretionary financial resources and agency expertise. These resources and expertise enable USDA to: (1) partner with farmers, ranchers and forest owners to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) through carbon sequestration and emissions reductions; (2) reduce GHG emissions from rural energy cooperatives; (3) bolster the resilience of private working lands and public forests and grasslands to the effects of climate change; (4) promote sustainable bioenergy, wood products, and other bio-based materials (5) contribute to the scientific understanding of climate change; and (6) invest in climate-smart economic development in rural communities. Importantly, given current economic conditions, investments in climate change at USDA can support and create rural jobs in agriculture, forestry, conservation and related businesses, thereby contributing to the economic recovery of rural America. In fact, based on MIT research, investments in agriculture, forestry, and conservation produce 20 to nearly 40 jobs per $1 million in expenditure. Given climate skepticism by many in rural America, it is critical that agriculture, forestry, and other rural stakeholders view themselves as USDA’s partners to achieve climate goals. We recommend USDA’s initiatives emphasize collaboration, incentives, the historic resiliency and innovation of agriculture and forestry, and the critical role that rural America can play in helping address climate change while creating jobs and economic opportunity. Issues of diversity, inclusion, and environmental justice are important in all of USDA’s work, including climate change. Given USDA’s history of past discrimination against minorities, tribes and women in the implementation of farm and other programs, it is vital that USDA’s efforts around climate change seek input from diverse stakeholders and that policies are administered such that access to resources and program outreach and delivery to these communities are prioritized. This memo provides the incoming Secretary of Agriculture, Chief of Staff, and key Department leadership with opportunities to maximize USDA’s contributions to an aggressive Administration-wide climate change mitigation and adaptation effort. This memo focuses on measures that can be undertaken within existing budgetary and legal authorities and prioritizes initiatives for the first 100 days that will either generate positive near-term impacts, or set the agency up to develop and implement a broader first-term climate agenda, including medium- and long-term climate policies to support the President’s agenda and the United States’ obligations under the Paris Agreement. Climate 21 Project: Department of Agriculture | 2 CLIMATE 21 PROJECT Transition Memo Department of Agriculture KEY PROGRAM RECOMMENDATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES • Issue a Secretarial Order on Climate Change and Rural Investment to signal climate change as a top priority of the department, frame USDA’s interest in investing in agriculture, forestry, technology, innovation, and rural economies, and to set agendas for policy and programmatic actions needed to act on climate. (Day 1) • Invest in natural climate solutions by establishing a Carbon Bank using the Commodity Credit Corporation to finance large-scale investments in climate smart land management practices; prioritizing climate smart practices in implementation of Farm Bill conservation programs; and identifying opportunities to invest in natural infrastructure. (Day 100) • Incentivize Climate Smart Agriculture and Rural Investment through financial tools including crop insurance, rural development grants and loans, and USDA procurement. (Day 100) • Decarbonize rural energy and promote green energy and smart grids through the vast reach of rural development grants and loans to rural utilities and by dramatically increasing use of methane digesters, biofuels and wood energy, and wood product innovation. (Day 100) • Prioritize federal investment to address wildfire by establishing a Wildfire Commission, co-chaired by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior and a Democratic and Republican governor, to offer recommendations to increase the pace and scale of ecologically-sound forest restoration on federal, state, tribal and private forest lands, modernize firefighting response in the US, address development in the wildland-urban interface, and increase the use of prescribed fire. (Day 100) KEY ORGANIZATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES • Rebuild and restore staff capacity and morale by re-investing in science capacity, especially in the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Economic Research Service (ERS), and addressing workforce and performance protocols that reward staff for climate change innovation. (Day 1) • Reset the narrative of agriculture and forestry as climate change solutions with rural stakeholders by emphasizing producers’ and landowners’ historic commitment to stewardship, and economic opportunities presented by investments in climate mitigation and resilience. (Day 1) Climate 21 Project: Department of Agriculture | 3 Management, Budget, and Structure Incoming USDA leadership will be beset by near-term organizational decisions and budgetary deadlines. The transition period should be used to identify top priority requests for stimulus spending or FY2022 increases in appropriations, given calendar constraints. The incoming Secretary and leadership team will confront a demoralized workforce that has seen high attrition and large numbers of vacant career positions. From day one, USDA leadership must prioritize communicating to career staff that they and their work are valued, including through internal messages and a Secretarial tour of USDA offices and agencies, and stand up a dedicated hiring team to rebuild a diverse and dedicated career workforce. The leadership team should also review and reconsider recent decisions to reorganize key climate and conservation functions, including the relocation of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service and the decision to isolate the Forest Service from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and key conservation programs. In addition to repairing past damages, incoming leadership should consider measures that will improve departmental management of climate initiatives, including moving the Climate Change Program Office into the Secretary’s office; standing up a short-term Climate Strike Team to evaluate existing departmental climate policy and implement changes; and setting performance measures for climate and conservation that will help drive accountability across USDA. USDA is a complex agency with among the broadest set of functions of any federal department. The USDA contains 29 agencies and offices with nearly 100,000 employees who serve the American people at more than 4,500 locations across the country and abroad. More than 40,000 of these employees are in two agencies—the US Forest Service and NRCS—both of which are central to federal efforts to address climate change on farms, ranches and forests. USDA’s significant field staffing gives it one of the largest ‘boots on the ground’ presence of any department, save the Department of Defense. While the majority of USDA’s presence and influence plays out in rural America, its portfolio and climate change opportunities are not exclusively rural. For example, trees in cities play an enormous role in helping to slow climate change; urban trees provide almost 20% of forest carbon sequestration in U.S. forests. The only dedicated federal urban forestry program resides in the US Forest Service as the Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA’s total annual budget is $153 billion, more than 80% of which are mandatory funds devoted to nutrition assistance. Of the $27 billion in annual appropriated funds, about $7 billion support conservation agencies with another $6 billion in mandatory dollars available for conservation. NRCS programs, Rural Development grants and loans, and the Farm Service Agency’s Conservation Reserve Program have substantial flexibility to target billions of dollars to climate-smart practices in rural communities and on working lands. An ambitious 100-day climate plan will require significant engagement on both budget and personnel matters. This memo deliberately focuses on concrete climate actions the agency can take through existing resources and authorities. Where significant budgetary and personnel resources are needed to achieve policy goals, we seek to identify them and illustrate how these recommendations are achievable using existing budget, authority and personnel. We also identify where significant new budget, authority and personnel are required and how they may be acquired. 1 Climate 21 Project: Department of Agriculture | 4 Budget resources play a major role in the agencies’ ability to implement priorities. USDA should be prepared to include climate-related requests in any COVID-related stimulus packages early in the Administration. Beyond that, three budget deadlines will significantly impact USDA’s resources for supporting climate change work within the first calendar year, and agency leaders should be prepared to make concrete appropriations requests as early as March 2021. The three budget deadlines are: (1) FY2021 omnibus appropriations. It is likely that all or some agencies will be on a continuing resolution (CR) as of inauguration day and that current year funding will be completed soon after (1-2 months) through an “omnibus” appropriations law. The spending levels will be largely negotiated by appropriators by this time, so there is very little room for increased spending or change of spending authorities. That said, small accommodations may be made, so a short list of funding and/or authority requests should be identified in the first 1-3 weeks. (2) FY2022 budget request. In the first year of a first term, the President’s budget is announced within the first 50 days. President Obama announced his first budget on March 11, 2009 - 37 days into the term. Agency requests are due earlier. Congressional budget and appropriations processes usually start in March when agency heads testify before the appropriating committees to support their budgets. Appropriations committees work with agency staff until the appropriations acts are passed. With such a short window, while focused on other start up issues, the agency has little time to generate and advocate for major initiatives. If USDA leadership seeks to make major climate budget proposals, it is critical to start that work in the transition or prior, so it is ready to go. (3) FY2023 budget process. After submitting the FY2022 budget, agencies will immediately begin work on the FY2023 budget request which is due to the Office of Management and Budget in late July, prior to announcement the following February. This window provides more time for major adjustments and initiatives. KEY STRUCTURAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES Equity, diversity and inclusion (Day 1 and ongoing) Climate change will have differential impacts on different populations. Climate change policies and programs should explicitly recognize the need to address equity and justice as part of their structure and design. For example, the programs discussed in this memo should be designed so that communities have equitable access to resilience investments, infrastructure improvements, information, technical assistance, and conservation programs. Conscious and unconscious biases in the system should be identified through staff training and policy review. Historically underrepresented communities and voices should be prioritized in agency and stakeholder engagement, such as through the Secretary’s listening tour (and senior leadership travel), the climate strike team, and advisory committees. The Secretary and his/her leadership team should make early and repeated statements about USDA’s commitment to dismantling structural racism within USDA agencies and programs, acknowledging and addressing past injustices, and addressing organizational cultures that have led to unsafe working conditions for women and minorities. Boost morale (Day 1 and ongoing) Across USDA, including within the natural resource and research agencies, career staff are demoralized, having been made to believe by their political leadership that neither their work nor experience is valued. It is critical for the incoming Secretary to quickly reset this narrative and empower and re-energize one of the most dedicated workforces in the federal government. The Secretary should consider reviving a successful tactic from the George W. Bush Administration, when he gave explicit direction to all incoming political appointees that career staff were their most valuable asset. Motivating and supporting career staff will be the engine that powers meaningful and lasting change at USDA. Broadcasting this message should be a Day 1 priority and be regularly reinforced. Climate 21 Project: Department of Agriculture | 5 In addition to articulating clear and strong messages of support to career staff, the Secretary should take concrete early actions to boost morale. These include: revising the Trump Administration’s telework policy that negatively impacted the personal lives of many employees; lifting travel caps that prevent staff from attending training and participating in professional gatherings, like research conferences, that enable their work and professional development; investing in training for skills career staff need to meet performance outcomes; and opening lines of communication between the Secretary’s office and senior leadership team and career agency leaders. The new Secretary should demonstrate that he or she understands and values career employees’ work by visiting agency offices in DC and in the field as early as possible. The Secretary should also model and take meaningful steps to prioritize a safe and inclusive workforce environment, and issue early messages communicating a leadership commitment to anti-racism, an acknowledgement of past USDA failures, and specific direction for creating equity in the workforce and in program delivery. The Secretary’s team should start these human capital activities on Day 1, have a plan drafted by Day 30, and complete the plan within the first 100 days. Climate Strike Team (Day 1) In order to quickly issue and effectively manage implementation of a Climate Change Secretarial Order, described in the following section, the Secretary should create a Climate Strike Team chaired by the Deputy Secretary, reporting directly to the Secretary, and comprised of SES-level career leads from the Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Research, Education, and Economic Resources (REE), Farm Services Agency (FSA), Departmental Administration, other appropriate agencies, and the head of the Office of Climate Change. The Strike Team should be term-limited, perhaps 18 to 36 months, and charged with securing the Secretarial Order’s near-term mandates such as review of existing policies and establishing an advisory committee. Upon dissolution of the Strike Team, the Climate Change Program Office would continue to be the lead intra-departmental coordination and execution body within USDA. Appointing agency leaders (100 Days) Throughout USDA, state-based political appointees help lead agencies like Rural Development (RD) and FSA. The incoming Administration should use the transition period to identify a dynamic, diverse group of potential appointees for those state-based positions, and move quickly to put those leaders in place so they can help agency staff immediately identify and implement climate-sensitive priorities for state-based funding and program delivery. Notably, the Forest Service has no political positions; the Secretary should maintain that tradition while quickly building an NRE team that can work in conjunction with Forest Service career leadership to implement the Secretary’s climate and other priorities. Hiring team (100 Days) All of USDA’s agencies are facing high rates of retirement and low rates of hiring, leading to a loss in institutional knowledge, capacity, and skills necessary to accomplish the climate priorities of a new Administration. The new Secretary should immediately create a team to work with agencies to identify top priority skills related to climate change, create relevant position descriptions, and stay focused on hiring new talent through an equitable hiring process. The process for non-federal candidates to navigate USA Jobs is extremely difficult and time consuming, creating major disincentives for joining federal service and perpetuating barriers for underrepresented groups. Existing authorities—including direct hire authority for Resource Assistance Program participants and noncompetitive hiring authority through the Public Land Service Corps Act—can be used to expedite hiring of career staff, but the Secretary should also work with Congress to pass new authorities, including direct hire authority for Public Land Service Corps participants, to facilitate building a diverse, talented civil workforce. The Secretary should also use existing authorities to temporarily bring external experts on board and to hire back retirees who have key knowledge and skills. Climate 21 Project: Department of Agriculture | 6 The hiring team should be started within the first 30 days and reach capacity through internal reassignments within 60 days. This team should emphasize reviewing outreach, recruitment, hiring, onboarding and retention approaches to identify and eliminate the impacts of unconscious bias and break down systemic barriers to access for underrepresented groups, and especially for Black, Indigenous and people of color. Additional capacity may be needed to fully implement a plan for equitable hiring: A larger team should be built no later than Oct 1. The Secretary may also want to consider leading a push to expand youth and veteran jobs and service corps opportunities to engage in climate-related work, building on the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) program launched during the Obama administration, which had bipartisan support in Congress, and any related efforts that may be underway as a response to the pandemic. This direction could be given on Day 1, using existing structures and authorities. Additional support, including targeted funding requests, could be identified in the first 1-3 weeks in anticipation of any omnibus or COVID-related legislation, and included in the FY22 budget proposal. The Secretary should highlight the importance of partnerships to increase agency capacity, and within the first 60 days, should review the Secretary Perdue’s direction on partner and cooperative agreements and consider how partners can support implementation of the new Administration’s climate priorities. National Institute of Food and Agriculture/Economic Research Service relocation (Day 1) A new incoming Secretary will have to repair the damage caused by the 2018-19 decision to relocate the majority of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Economic Research Service (ERS) from Washington, DC, to Kansas City, Missouri. Nearly 8 of every 10 NIFA employees have left NIFA rather than move. The forced relocation to Kansas City has also meant dozens of reports and millions in research funding have been delayed or scuttled, setting back critical climate change and other research. To restore NIFA and ERS to their size under the Obama administration, USDA would have to hire more than 400 people. The Secretary’s decision process on what to do to resolve this situation should be transparent and inclusive, including consulting with the NAREEE Advisory Board. A report can be mandated on Day 1 and completed in the first 180 days, with operational changes embedded by the end of the year. Regardless of the decision the incoming Secretary makes regarding maintaining or reversing the mandatory relocation, he or she must take immediate steps to mitigate the research impacts. To ensure NIFA and ERS meet climate change research priorities, an incoming Secretary could request a third-party review and data analysis of research and other activities that have been or will be postponed or discarded because of the relocation. Mission Area organization for Natural Resources (Day 1) In 2017, Secretary Perdue reorganized the natural resource mission areas. NRCS was moved out of the Natural Resources & Environment (NRE) Mission Area, leaving only the Forest Service in NRE. A new Farm, Production and Conservation Mission Area (FPAC) that includes NRCS, FSA, and RMA was created. Isolating the Forest Service, which manages 8.5% of land in the U.S. and contains USDA’s largest workforce, has damaged opportunities for landscape-scale climate change initiatives across the Department and deepened tendencies towards siloed budgets and policies. While some integrated initiatives, such as the FS-NRCS Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Projects, have continued, an incoming Secretary should reconsider if the Forest Service is best served separated from other USDA agencies, or if NRCS should be moved back into NRE. Regardless of the Secretary’s decision regarding the NRE/FPAC structure, most observers view the FPAC Business Center as a failure in execution. The FPAC Business center was established in 2018 and is intended to provide centralized business operations (financial management, budgeting, human resources, information technology, acquisitions/procurement, customer experience, internal controls, risk management, strategic and annual planning, and other similar activities) within the FPAC Mission Area. To assess the problems with the FPAC Business Center design and implementation, a report can be mandated on Day 1, to be completed in first 180 days, with recommendations that the Secretary can then consider.