Farm Policy News Summary

USDA to Relocate Thousands of DC Employees to Regional Hubs

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Reuters’ Leah Douglas reported that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture will relocate much of its Washington, D.C., workforce to five regional hubs and vacate several buildings in the area, including its flagship research center, the agency announced on Thursday.”

“No more than 2,000 USDA employees will remain in the Washington area once the reorganization is complete, the agency said in a statement,” Douglas reported. “The rest, about 2,600 people, will be relocated to hubs in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah, the agency said.”

“The agency is not conducting widespread staff reductions, though the relocation plan is part of the USDA’s process of reducing its workforce, the release said,” Douglas reported. “The USDA also said it will vacate several properties in the Washington area, including its flagship research site, the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, and one of its headquarters buildings on the National Mall.”

USDA. Courtesy of WikiMedia Commons.

Politico’s Jordan Wolman, Marcia Brown and Grace Yarrow reported the “move is the latest in a round of shakeups to the federal workforce enacted by the Trump administration as it seeks to dramatically slash what it sees as excess spending and a bloated bureaucracy.”

“(Ag Secretary Brooke) Rollins said this latest plan to relocate even more employees will help USDA better serve its ‘core constituents’ of farmers, ranchers and U.S. producers,” Wolman, Brown and Yarrow reported. “The secretary, in a follow-up press release, also said the move is a cost-saving one. USDA expects to move more than half of its 4,600-person Washington staff, allowing the department to cut workers’ pay: The D.C. region has a nearly 34 percent federal salary locality rate, which increases salaries based on the cost of living, compared to 17 percent in Salt Lake City, for example.”

Ag Committee Senators Call for Hearing

Agri-Pulse’s Steve Davies and Rebekah Alvey reported that “Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., and the committee’s top Democrat, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, are calling for a hearing on USDA’s reorganization plan, which Klobuchar said was ‘completely unacceptable’ and would ‘decimate research work at the USDA.’”

“‘The U.S. Department of Agriculture plays a critical role in supporting America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities,’ Boozman said in a statement,” according to Davies and Alvey’s reporting. “‘The best way to serve our agriculture community is by working together, so it’s disappointing USDA didn’t share its plans in advance of this announcement. I will be thoroughly examining the details of the proposal and look forward to hearing more about the reorganization from [Ag] Secretary [Brooke] Rollins.'”

Davies and Alvey reported that other senators — including Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan. — didn’t know much about the plan in advance of the announcement, but were looking forward to learning more and speaking with USDA leadership about any potential impacts and opportunities.

“‘I think this has been a priority for Secretary Rollins, to get USDA workers out closer to producers,’ Marshall said,” according to Davies and Alvey’s reporting. “‘So we have this office in Kansas City – research. They do a lot of data collection, so I’m all for it. We’ve got some incredible graduate programs around there for agriculture – Iowa State, Nebraska, of course, Kansas State University. Missouri has a great ag program as well.'”

Other Core USDA Facilities and Service Centers to be Maintained

Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported that “USDA is expected to maintain two additional ‘core’ administrative support locations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition, the memo said ‘critical’ service centers and laboratories in St. Louis, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Missoula, Montana, would be maintained.”

“The plan also includes eliminating stand-alone regional offices including the Agriculture Research Service. Its ‘residual’ functions are expected to be performed by ARS’s Office of National Programs, according to Rollins’ memo,” Neeley reported. “‘The National Agricultural Statistics Service will consolidate its 12 existing regions into five USDA hubs over a multi-year period,’ the memo said.”

Click here to read the Secretary’s Memorandum on the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Plan

“Other changes include reducing the Food and Nutrition Service regions from seven to five and to ‘align locations’ with the USDA hubs and service centers during a two-year period and phasing out nine regional offices for the U.S. Forest Service during the next year,” Neeley reported. “The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service centers are expected to remain at their current locations in the USDA hub regions.”

Reorganization Plan Could Hit Employee Morale

Wolman, Brown and Yarrow reported that “several USDA staffers told POLITICO that the move will further hurt morale.”

“‘This administration [isn’t] interested in supporting staff or even really in the jobs we do,’ said one employee granted anonymity in order to speak publicly without fear of repercussions,” according to Wolman, Brown and Yarrow’s reporting. “‘If they cared about either of those things, if they cared about serving farmers and ranchers, they wouldn’t have taken away all the staff, tools, and resources we use to serve them.'”

“A second employee, also granted anonymity to speak candidly, warned that relocating staff out of the Washington area would make oversight more difficult,” Wolman, Brown and Yarrow reported.

Douglas reported that “Laura Dodson, an economist with the ERS and vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, who worked for the agency during its relocation (in 2019), said moving staff is not efficient and results in less oversight and higher costs. ‘While this is bad for employees, it will be worse for the American public,’ she said.”

“The agency may also struggle to replace workers who choose not to relocate in small, regional labor markets, said Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former USDA senior advisor for rural development,” Douglas reported.

Ryan Hanrahan is the Farm Policy News editor and social media director for the farmdoc project. He has previously worked in local news, primarily as an agriculture journalist in the American West. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri (B.S. Science & Agricultural Journalism). He can be reached at rrh@illinois.edu.

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