GAO assessed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) management and potential organizational improvements.

GAO found that: (1) many major USDA agencies and programs are very mature and have developed traditions, views, and constituencies independent of USDA; (2) this organizational structure hampers USDA in its efforts to perform its mission, and strong ties between the agencies, Congress, and constituent groups have kept USDA from adjusting to changes in the agricultural environment; (3) USDA struggles to deal with cross-cutting issues requiring coordination between its agencies, other federal agencies, and outside groups; and (4) USDA suffers from basic weaknesses in its human resource, information resource, management information, and financial management systems.