U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has announced a sweeping reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aimed at reducing costs, shrinking the Washington, D.C., footprint, and relocating many agency operations to five regional hubs.
The changes are designed to refocus USDA on its core mission of serving American farmers, ranchers, and foresters. The overhaul comes after a four-year internal review revealed increased staffing and salaries with “no tangible increase in service” to agriculture, according to the department.
The reorganization, authorized under a Secretary Memorandum issued this week, includes relocating thousands of USDA positions from Washington, D.C., to five new hub locations across the country: Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah.
The department also designated Lincoln, Nebraska, as one of the “critical service centers and laboratories” that will be preserved amid the changes.
The plan will reduce USDA’s D.C.-based workforce from 4,600 to roughly 2,000. Facilities like the South Building and Beltsville Agricultural Research Center will be vacated, while others, like the Whitten and Yates buildings, will remain operational.
USDA has already begun to reduce its workforce, with more than 15,000 employees electing voluntary deferred resignations. Additional staffing changes are expected as the multi-phase reorganization progresses.
