Responding to Pingree Request, GAO Finds USDA Has Done Too Little to Protect Farms and Forests from Climate-Driven Diseases and Pests

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), a longtime organic farmer and member of the House Agriculture Committee, is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to swiftly implement recommendations from a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that examines the growing climate-related risks that diseases and pests pose to American farms and forests.

In September 2019, Pingree and former Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) asked GAO to undertake a broad examination of USDA's climate-related work in agriculture, including the status of USDA Climate Hubs and additional actions the department could take. That oversight request previously produced a 2023 GAO report, which outlined 13 options for strengthening agricultural climate resilience. The latest report focuses on climate-related diseases and pests affecting both farms and forests.

For its latest review, GAO examined federal laws, regulations, agency guidance, and scientific literature; interviewed 84 government and nongovernment stakeholders; and conducted site visits in eight states, including Maine.

Among GAO's key findings:

• From 1960 through 2020, invasive species-including diseases and pests-cost the U.S. agricultural and forestry sectors at least $550 billion.

• Climate change is expanding or shifting the geographic range of diseases and pests while increasing the timing, duration, and scale of outbreaks. The southern pine beetle, once concentrated in southern and mid-Atlantic states, has now been detected as far north as Maine.

• Warmer winters are allowing pests such as corn earworm to appear earlier and in greater numbers, making some traditional pest-management methods less effective and potentially increasing crop losses and pesticide use.

• USDA has not fully integrated disease and pest risks into its climate-resilience planning and has provided farmers and land managers with limited information and technical assistance addressing individual threats.

• USDA Climate Hubs have supported research, forecasting tools, and outreach related to specific pests and diseases, but the hubs have lost staff and face proposed funding cuts.

• The President's fiscal year 2027 budget proposed cutting $153 million from Agricultural Research Service climate-science research and the Climate Hubs, as well as more than $300 million from Forest Service State, Private and Tribal Forestry activities.

• An analysis published with the fiscal year 2024 President's Budget estimated that, by 2100, climate change could increase federal crop-insurance payments by $300 million to $2.2 billion annually.

GAO requested updated information from USDA in April 2026, but the department did not respond. USDA also did not provide written comments stating whether it agreed or disagreed with GAO's findings and recommendations.

The threats identified by GAO are already affecting Maine producers. Recent reporting by the Portland Press Herald described how Emma Sanchi of Crowfoot Farm in Lyman uses insect netting, row covers, and a high tunnel to protect vegetables from pests, diseases, and increasingly volatile weather. Sanchi has sought USDA assistance to construct another high tunnel-an investment that can cost more than $15,000. The article also highlighted efforts by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association to help farmers track and manage diseases encouraged by hotter, more humid conditions.

GAO made two recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture:

1. In consultation with agricultural and land-management stakeholders, conduct a nationwide assessment identifying and comparing the climate-related risks posed by agricultural and forest diseases and pests.

2. Use that assessment to develop a national strategy for managing the identified risks.

GAO identified four central areas for such a strategy:

• Improve and coordinate disease and pest monitoring and surveillance;

• Incorporate climate information into modeling and projections;

• Coordinate and expand education, outreach, and technical assistance; and

• Modify existing-or develop new-disease and pest management strategies.

"The longer USDA waits, the more expensive and difficult this problem will become," Pingree said. "A nationwide risk assessment and coordinated strategy would help direct limited resources where they can do the most good, give producers the information they need, and reduce the growing costs borne by farmers, landowners, and taxpayers."

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