Colleagues,

First and foremost, I would like to start by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to all USDA employees who worked through the holiday season to protect our infrastructure, food distribution channels, and the health and safety of our citizens. Your hard work makes it possible for many of our neighbors, friends, families and community members to have food on their table. In the weeks and months to come, we will continue to support each other while we pursue USDA’s mission. We charged at full speed throughout 2021 and now are readying ourselves for an impactful new year. For those of you who were able to take time off, I hope that the season brought you well-deserved respite and you returned to the office proud of last year’s accomplishments, revitalized and motivated.

As we launch into 2022, let us collectively focus our attention on achieving USDA’s goals and priorities. This week, President Biden and I announced $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds for expansion of processing capacity. Many of you play an important role in ensuring this investment succeeds in creating more market opportunities for our producers and making our food system fairer, more equitable and more resilient. This is just the start. Each of us has many opportunities to improve America’s wellbeing and peoples’ lives through the actions we take and our commitment to achieving our goals. It is my hope that everyone at USDA sees themselves as part of our rich tapestry of meaningful work and that employees connect their work to any or all of our goals. (For reference, I have included a summary of our goals below my signature.)

It is not only important to highlight what we do, but how we work. At USDA, we treat all people with courtesy and respect, and we value the inherent dignity of every individual. We seek to end discrimination in all forms, wherever it exists, and expand services and opportunities to underserved people and communities across America. We act in a manner that is deserving of the public’s trust and with the utmost integrity in everything we do as public servants. We listen to our internal and external customers and actively incorporate their ideas and deliver service that significantly and positively impacts the lives of all Americans. We base our decisions and policy on science and data that are reliable, timely and relevant. Thank you to all who worked on developing USDA’s Equity Action Plans as part of our ongoing commitment to achieving equity across all we do.

These departmental priorities require collaboration and bold action, a special attention to internal and external customer service, and the consistent reminder that The People’s Department serves our people, fulfills their needs, and improves lives across the country each and every day. Starting this month, a random sampling of USDA employees will be invited to participate in FY2022 Strategic Priorities employee focus groups. Employees randomly selected to participate in a focus group will receive a personal email invitation from employeeexperience@usda.gov with a meeting date, time and instructions on how to participate. This is one more way we are prioritizing the employee voice and experience in all we do at USDA. Thank you in advance for your commitment to making us better. 

With these priorities, goals and values in mind, your agency and staff office leaders should actively engage you in shaping your performance goals to meet the demands of this coming year. This is an opportunity for you to develop within, find new ways to excel in your career, and to realize that excitement when you reach your internal goals and benchmarks. This is also an opportunity to ensure USDA’s mission and service excellence exceeds the public’s expectations. While we are already doing this, there is always more work to be done in streamlining our business practices and making our services accessible to those that depend on us. I know that you are up to this task.

Finally, many of you participated in the recent Office of Management and Budget government-wide Pulse Survey Pilot. The results from this survey will begin to guide us on how best to build USDA as one of the federal government’s best place to work. Thank you for your feedback. The Pulse Survey #1 results will be released via a blog post on performance.gov on Monday, Jan. 10. I encourage you to review and consider how you can continue to apply learning from your agency’s results. 

I want to thank you again for all the work you do. USDA really is one of the best places to work in government because of everything you do for rural and urban Americans every single day. I am looking forward to 2022 and I hope you are as well.

With much appreciation.

Secretary Vilsack

USDA’s FY22 Goals and Priorities

• Addressing Climate Change via Climate Smart Agriculture & Forestry: Together we can continue to lead the way with investments in science, research and climate smart solutions that improve the profitability and resilience of producers and forest health, while creating new income opportunities and generational wealth that builds in those same communities. In FY22, USDA will build on our progress to integrate climate change into programs and services as we work to support farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, partners and rural communities in tackling climate change.
• Advancing Racial Justice, Equity and Opportunity: USDA is committed to the values of equity and inclusion rooted in justice and equal opportunity for our employees and those we serve. USDA is taking bold, historic action to reduce barriers to access, advance opportunity for underserved communities, and root out generations of systemic racism and discrimination. This includes embracing diversity, equity, inclusion and access in the workplace and ensuring USDA is a great place to work with a well-trained and diverse workforce committed to its customers. In FY22, we will continue to build on our progress towards integrating equity into decision-making and programs and services.
• Creating More and Better Market Opportunities: COVID-19 revealed vulnerabilities in our food system. As we build back better, we must create more and better markets for producers and consumers alike. The food system of the future needs to be fair, competitive, distributed and resilient. The success of American agriculture hinges on innovation and the development of new markets, both at home and abroad. In FY22, our priority areas are prioritizing processing and distribution capacity, creating open and competitive markets, strengthening local and regional food systems, investing in organic and other emerging opportunities, expanding export markets, and safeguarding animal and plant health and food safety.
• Tackling Food and Nutrition Insecurity: While keeping the food supply safe, as USDA does each day, we must also tackle both food insecurity and nutrition insecurity. USDA’s nutrition programs are the most far-reaching tools available to ensure all Americans have access to healthy, affordable food. In FY22, we will build on the innovation required by our COVID-19 pandemic response, as well as the historic investments in nutrition and food assistance we made in FY21. We will also invest in bold solutions that enhance food safety, improve our nutrition programs, and reduce both food and nutrition insecurity.
• Making USDA a Great Place to Work for Everyone: Our work to ensure USDA is at its best and reaches new heights as we contain the COVID-19 pandemic and work across the department to build back better requires a strong, healthy and inclusive workforce with leaders and staff who work together to build a culture that welcomes and respects everyone and that encourages everyone to reach their highest potential.