USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Tuesday that the massive agency will be required to change its research focus to be more in alignment with the needs of farmers.

Rollins says an obsessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and draconian environmental oversight during President Biden’s administration caused the USDA drift from its original mission and squander resources.

Rising input costs, pest and disease threats and dwindling trade prospects have pressured the ag economy in recent years.

“The United States has repeatedly proven that complex agricultural problems can be addressed and solved through bold innovation. And with growing recognition that farm security is national security, protecting and improving agricultural abundance is critically important now more than ever,” Rollins said in a statement.

Rollins says USDA’s new research efforts must focus on increasing profitability for farmers and ranchers, expanding markets and creating new uses of U.S. ag products, fighting invasive species such as the New World Screwworm and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, promoting soil health, and improving human health through better food quality.

Rollins’ statement about soil health credited farmers and ranchers for stewarding their land but requested more research and development, “that promotes soil health practices, increases water-use efficiency and reduces inputs will ensure farms and ranches remain productive for generations to come.”

Specific practices were not mentioned, although the USDA recently committed $700 million toward beginning a pilot project for regenerative agriculture that will focus on whole-farm practices rather than piecemeal tools.

The changes come after Rollins announced sweeping reforms earlier this year at the USDA, including moving some functions to core “hubs” in other states closer to agricultural states. Media report the agency lost about 20% of its staff in the first 5 months of this year.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said earlier this month that the pace pace of staffing losses across the USDA, combined with the uncertainty introduced by the USDA reorganization plan, “have weakened the Department at the very moment farmers face rising production costs, unstable markets, and climate-driven disasters.”