On Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced what she calls a “complete reorganization” of USDA. When fully implemented, more than half of the agency’s Washington workforce will be relocated to other locations across the country.
Rollins said this was decided after considering where USDA has “existing concentrations” across the country. She also cited the high cost of living around the District of Columbia.
“President Trump promised to realign federal spending, eliminate duplication and redundancy, and ensure all agencies are efficient and effectively delivering services to our constituents,” Rollins said in a five-minute video directed to USDA employees. “We are doing just that by moving our key services outside Washington, D.C., to ensure that USDA is located closer to the people we serve, while also providing a more affordable cost of living for our employees and their families.”
On Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced what she calls a “complete reorganization” of USDA. When fully implemented, more than half of the agency’s Washington workforce will be relocated to other locations across the country.
Rollins said this was decided after considering where USDA has “existing concentrations” across the country. She also cited the high cost of living around the District of Columbia.
“President Trump promised to realign federal spending, eliminate duplication and redundancy, and ensure all agencies are efficient and effectively delivering services to our constituents,” Rollins said in a five-minute video directed to USDA employees. “We are doing just that by moving our key services outside Washington, D.C., to ensure that USDA is located closer to the people we serve, while also providing a more affordable cost of living for our employees and their families.”
Not included in that workforce number are the 15,364 employees who previously agreed to “voluntary elected deferred resignations” earlier this year. According to Rollin’s memo, USDA will “continue to fully leverage” the deferred resignation program, as well as voluntary early retirements and “voluntary separation incentive payments.”
In that same memo, Rollins stated USDA’s workforce has grown by 8% over the past four years, while employee salaries rose by 14.5%, saying many of those salaries were funded through “temporary funding.”
A USDA spokesperson declined to offer specifics on how much money the reorganization is expected to save taxpayers. That spokesperson also declined to answer questions regarding further potential staff reductions.
“Today’s announcement was a first step. Some aspects of the reorganization will be implemented over the coming months, while other aspects will take more time to implement,” the spokesperson said in response to multiple questions from Farm Progress on Thursday. “As the reorganization progresses, employees and other relevant parties will be updated accordingly.”
According to Rollins, moving employees from Washington to one of five USDA hubs will put the agency closer to its core constituents. The hubs include:
Raleigh, North Carolina
Kansas City, Missouri
Indianapolis, Indiana
Fort Collins, Colorado
Salt Lake City, Utah
The agency will continue to maintain two administrative offices in Albuquerque, N.M., and Indianapolis, as well as agency service centers in St. Louis; Lincoln, Neb.; and Missoula, Mont.
In Washington, USDA will vacate the south building of its headquarters. It will also leave offices at Braddock Place in Alexandria, Va., and the George Washington Carver Center in Beltsville, Md.
Operations at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland will be transferred to other locations over a period of years. The 6,000-acre facility is considered the nation’s largest hub for farm research.
As part of the reorganization plan, Agriculture Research Service area offices will be eliminated. Their responsibilities will now be handled by the Office of National Programs. ARS officials did not respond to questions from Farm Progress regarding the impact of these closures.
USDA’s 2026 budget proposal reportedly includes plans to close and consolidate ARS research facilities in California, Delaware and Illinois. In Illinois, the targeted facility is in Urbana, which is home to both the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center and the National Soybean Germplasm Collection.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service will consolidate its 12 current regions into the five USDA hubs over the next several years. The Natural Resources Conservation Service will also consolidate offices.
Over the next year, the U.S. Forest Service will consolidate nine regional offices into one facility in Fort Collins. USDA announced it will also consolidate multiple support functions in an effort to “reduce duplication and provide consistency.”
In her address to USDA employees, Rollins said the reorganization will be carried out through a “transparent, commonsense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services that the American public relies on.”
However, USDA officials declined to answer questions from Farm Progress regarding when and how the reorganization plan was crafted. An agency spokesperson also declined to elaborate on who in the federal government was involved in drafting the plan, or if farmers and agriculture stakeholders were consulted.
According to House Ag Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig, D-Minn., those decisions were made without input from Congress or key stakeholders. In a statement released Thursday, she said this demonstrates the Trump administration “failed to learn” from previous relocation efforts. She warned its latest plan is “willfully risking” the effectiveness of the agencies and programs supporting family farmers.
Craig noted that when the first Trump administration moved USDA’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture away from Washington, about 75% of those employees declined to move. This, Craig said, resulted in a “massive brain drain” and a significant loss of productivity.
She cited a 2023 Government Accountability Office study that concluded, among other things, that the ERS produced fewer reports following the move. NIFA took longer to process grants. Diversity within those programs also declined significantly, with the percentage of Black workers at NIFA dropping from 47% to 19%.
“To expect different results for the rest of USDA is foolish and naive,” Craig said. “Sadly, farmers will pay the price through a reduction in the quality and quantity of service they already receive from the department.”
Craig is calling on Ag Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson to hold a hearing on the proposed reorganization as soon as possible to better quantify its impact.
