About the Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (OARA)

What We Do

The Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (OARA) serves as the primary liaison between rural and agricultural stakeholders and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). OARA maintains close contact with EPA’s program offices and regions to forge practical, science-based solutions that protect the environment while ensuring a vibrant and productive agricultural system.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Increase coordination with a network of existing agriculture policy advisors located in all 10 EPA regional offices across the country.
• OARA houses EPA’s existing Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC), which provides independent policy recommendations to the Agency on environmental issues important to agriculture and rural communities. The FRRCC’s charter was renewed in January 2024 and the committee will continue consideration of how EPA’s programs can best advance the U.S. agriculture sector’s climate mitigation and adaptation goals.
• OARA, along with the Office of Water (OW), oversees the newly created Animal Agriculture and Water quality (AAWQ) FRRCC Subcommittee that will inform the Agency’s decisions on EPA’s permitting program to reduce nutrients and water pollutants from Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs).
• This office works with relevant federal and state partners, in addition to the Rural Partners Network, to collaborate with small, underserved towns and rural communities seeking federal investments in infrastructure upgrades and other community improvement opportunities.

Hot Topics

• Agricultural animal production
• Dicamba
• E-15
• EPCRA/CERCLA requirements for farms
• Food loss and waste

• Nutrients
• Renewable Fuel Standard program
• Pesticide use in agriculture
• PFAS
• Water reuse
• Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule

Ways to Engage with EPA

• Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
  • This office serves as the primary liaison between rural and agricultural stakeholders and EPA. OARA maintains close contact with EPA’s program offices and regions to forge practical, science-based solutions that protect the environment while ensuring a vibrant and productive agricultural system.
• EPA’s Regional Agriculture Advisors
  • Our office coordinates with each of our ten Regional Offices around the country on issues, activities, and outreach pertaining to agriculture. Each EPA Regional Office is responsible for programs for several states and territories and has its own Regional Agriculture Advisor.
• EPA’s Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Committee (FRRCC)
  • A federal advisory committee which provides independent policy advice, information, and recommendations to the Administrator on a range of environmental issues and policies that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities.
• Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance’s National Agriculture Center
  • Offers regulatory, non-regulatory, and compliance assistance information at epa.gov/agriculture
  • Agriculture Newsroom
  • Join the Ag Center's Agriculture News Service
• EPA’s Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC)
  • A federal advisory committee which meets with EPA on a regular basis to discuss pesticide regulatory, policy, and program implementation issues.
• EPA Science Advisory Board - Agricultural Science Committee
  • Provides advice to the chartered Science Advisory Board on matters that have been determined to have a significant direct impact on farming and agriculture-related industries.
• EPA’s Smart Sectors Program
  • A partnership program that provides a platform to collaborate with regulated sectors (including agriculture) and develop sensible approaches that better protect the environment and public health.

OARA Organization

• Phone: 202-503-5749
• Email: [email protected]
• Mail code: 1101A | EPA mailing addresses
• Location:  EPA Headquarters at Washington, D.C. Federal Triangle campus

For scheduling meetings and other inquiries, please email Linda Brown at [email protected] and Felipe Afanador Beltran at [email protected].