Colleagues,

As you receive this, I will be speaking at the Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattleman’s Beef Association’s Trade Show in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s my first trip for the Agency since early 2020, and while the trip requires extra precautions due to rising COVID cases across the country, it feels great to be out of the office for a bit, engaging with stakeholders in this setting.

I am also glad to be here to share the many ways AMS is working hard for our customers. Just before this trip, we announced that AMS Market News will issue two new reports based on Livestock Mandatory Reporting data that will provide additional insight into formula cattle trades and help promote fair and competitive markets. The first new reports were published this past Monday, and the industry is already noticing – the reports have been mentioned multiple times here in Nashville. The new reports are part of the Department’s overall efforts to deliver on President Biden’s Executive Order 14036 on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which directed USDA to “enhance price discovery, increase transparency, and improve the functioning of the cattle and other livestock markets.” 

As we head into the last half of August, we are prepping announcements for billions of dollars in AMS programs that will benefit the agricultural industry. The Dairy Program, Fair Trade Practices Program and the Transportation and Marketing Program are hard at work getting the final pieces ready for their respective rollouts. As I’ve said before, the level of funding, creation of new programs, and changes to existing programs happening across the agency is unprecedented. It’s going to be a busy but exciting end of the Fiscal Year for most of the AMS team. Keep an eye out for the press releases and notices to trade, which will give some insight into the tremendous work being done by you and your colleagues. I look forward to sharing more about what we have accomplished.

Bruce Summers

Administrator

Providing up to date information and good customer service are top priorities of the National Organic Program (NOP). During her eight-year tenure with the NOP, lead secretary Joan Avila has developed innovative ways to share her bountiful knowledge of the program when it comes to responding to members of the public and stakeholders. If you have ever called the NOP, there is a good chance you’ve spoken with her!

Joan and administrative assistant Sandra Page field an average of over 1,800 calls and emails per year from people looking for answers and resources on a wide range of organic questions. To better respond to customers quickly, consistently and with current information, Joan started tracking all the inquiries to see what questions and concerns were coming in from the public on a regular basis. She found most of the questions were about basic certification, how to file a complaint investigation, and questions pertaining to the Organic Integrity Database of certified operations.

With her findings, Joan started saving responses to the questions she knew someone would ask again. As this personal library grew, she started working with NOP communications specialist Sonya Backus to develop a template library of more than 70 responses to the most frequently asked questions. Together they keep answers up to date and cleared for public use, adding to the library as new inquiries pertaining to trade arrangements and further explanation of NOP regulations are required. Last year, they moved the library onto the program’s Insight (intranet) page where any team member can easily search by keyword to locate approved answers and resources for various topics. When asked why this initiative was so important to her, Joan said, “It’s my job to keep up with the changes in our program so I can help the public with their questions, and provide access to information if they are looking to join as a certified operation.” With Joan managing the templates, callers are sure to receive current and detailed answers to their questions. Joan also provides excellent customer service to her coworkers, who rely on her extensive knowledge of the organic regulations and resources to assist with responses to more complex inquiries.

Because of this proactive, ongoing work, NOP has a well-designed library of cleared talking points that all staff have easy access to, and callers receive prompt, consistent responses.

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In accordance with updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USDA employees, on-site contractors, partners, volunteers, customers, and visitors in areas of “substantial” or “high” community COVID-19 transmission are required to wear a mask in Federal buildings and government owned or leased vehicles regardless of vaccination status. This is effective immediately, and the city of Washington, D.C., is currently classified as having “substantial” COVID-19 transmission. Managers should help reinforce this indoor masking requirement. Failure to comply with these requirements may lead to appropriate administrative action.

The APHIS Human Resources Division, Workplace Resolutions and Wellness Branch, in partnership with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Rural Development (RD), National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will be offering the following course during the month of August.

To ensure Skillsoft's ability to deliver innovative and secure learning experiences, Skillsoft is announcing its plan to end support for the Internet Explorer browser on September 7, 2021. Many of the vendors we work with have already dropped support for Internet Explorer, making it increasingly challenging to continue supporting the browser.  

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Hispanic American Cultural Effort (HACE) would like to invite you to a talk ahead of the Hispanic American Heritage month by Dr. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Historian and Writer, Professor at the University of Notre Dame, about the Hispanic history of the United States. 

August 23, 2021 - 2:00 pm ET.

Please register in advance for this
Zoom event using the following link: 

Register

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Essential Supervisory Information Sessions (ESIS) is a great resource for supervisors to gain focused insight and training on a multitude of scheduled topics which are of general and timely concern to supervisors-at-large in convenient, 90-minute webinars. All of these classes are on the Insight calendar.