USDA Reorganization to be Completed in 2026, Vaden Says

Agri-Pulse’s Lydia Johnson reported that “the Agriculture Department will complete a reorganization of more than half the current D.C.-based staff to five regional hubs across the U.S. by the end of 2026, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden says on Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.”

“In a comprehensive year-in-review interview, Vaden said ‘when you and I talk at the end of next year … We will have redistributed the majority of our USDA employees to our new hub locations, plus other places where we already have leased office space,'” Johnson reported. “The reorganization, a process led by Vaden, will move more than 2,000 USDA employees to regional hubs in five cities: Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah.”

“When asked if employees will be moved to the regional hubs by the end of 2026, Vaden confirmed ‘they will be,'” Johnson reported. “‘As a matter of fact, we’re already moving to implement that, and you’ll see that in the days and weeks ahead with public announcements,’ Vaden told Newsmakers anchor Lydia Johnson.”

“The reorganization is expected to cut the national capital region’s 4,600 employees to no more than 2,000, according to the USDA’s original July announcement,” Johnson reported. “Vaden said USDA is ‘being very transparent’ in the reorganization process and directed those interested to the USDA’s reorganization webpage.”

Appropriations Bill Provisions Could Slow the Reorganization

Civil Eats’ Lisa Held reported that “several provisions included in the agriculture funding bill passed (in November) could make it harder for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement plans to reorganize the agency, move employees out of Washington, D.C., cut staff, and close field offices.”

“Provisions included in the funding bill … will require the USDA to get Congressional approval before closing field offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Rural Development, and the Farm Services Agency,” Held reported. “The USDA will also need approval to relocate employees from those offices if the change would result in the office having two or fewer employees.”

“In a section allocating funding to the Farm Service Agency, the bill also says at least $15,000,000 must be used ‘for the hiring of new employees to fill vacancies and anticipated vacancies at Farm Service Agency county offices and farm loan officers,'” Held reported. “Another section in the bill, Section 716, says the USDA cannot eliminate programs or projects, relocate an office or employees, or reorganize offices and programs (among other things) unless the Agriculture secretary first gets approval from appropriations committees in Congress. Many of the changes in Rollins’ plans appear to fit into those categories.”

“‘I think what you’re seeing here is this is putting into law that these things are required,’ (Mike Lavender, policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) said,” according to Held’s reporting. “‘It makes more clear that Congress has the power of appropriations, and it makes more clear that Congress is a partner with USDA and needs to be informed. How it will play out remains to be seen.”

USDA Plan Developed Without Stakeholder Input, Critics Say

Politico’s Grace Yarrow reported in August that “critics of the reorganization plan are continuing to call the administration out for leaving partners out of conversations.” At a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee on the reorganization plan on July 30, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden told senators that the USDA had not consulted organizations like the American Farm Bureau Federation or the National Farmers Union, for example.”

“‘How do you … tell us that you’re trying to improve the service of the agency, that you’re trying to make it work better for farmers and all USDA constituents, if you’re not actually talking to anybody?’ said Robert Bonnie, former undersecretary for farm production and conservation during the Biden administration,” Yarrow reported. “‘Do they want to make it work better for farmers across the country? Good. Go meet with them,’ Bonnie added in an interview.”

Progressive Farmer’s Jerry Hagstrom and Todd Neeley reported at the end of July that “National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Policy Director Mike Lavender said the administration should consult farmers before reorganizing the agency.”

“‘Without input from farmers, the proposed USDA reorganization would close offices and lead to further staff reductions — and ultimately farmers would pay the price,’ he said,” according to Hagstrom and Neeley’s reporting. “‘Improving USDA to better serve farmers and ranchers is a noble undertaking, but today’s announcement fails to connect the dots between a mass staff relocation and the resultant staff loss and expanded economic opportunity for all farmers and ranchers.’”