USDA Announces Reorganization to Refocus on Agriculture

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins has announced a significant reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), aimed at refocusing operations to support American farming, ranching and forestry.

According to the July 24 announcement, USDA’s workforce has grown by 8% over the past four years, with a 14.5% increase in employee salaries. This expansion, which included hiring thousands of employees, occurred without a corresponding increase in service to the agricultural sector. USDA’s National Capital Region (NCR) operations were also cited as underutilized and inefficient, with issues including overspending, deferred maintenance and redundancy.

“President Trump has made it clear government needs to be scrutinized,” said Secretary Rollins. “After this thorough review of USDA, the results show a bloated, expensive and unsustainable organization.”

All critical USDA functions will continue uninterrupted. Rollins emphasized that positions related to national security and public safety — such as those involved in forest fire response and food inspection — are exempt from the federal hiring freeze. While those roles will remain, some employees may be relocated.

“American agriculture feeds, clothes and fuels this nation and the world, and it is long past time the Department better serve the great and patriotic farmers, ranchers and producers we are mandated to support,” said Rollins. “We will do right by the great American people who we serve and with respect to the thousands of hardworking USDA employees who so nobly serve their country.”

The reorganization is structured around four key pillars:

1. Aligning USDA’s workforce size with financial resources and agricultural priorities
2. Bringing USDA operations closer to its customers
3. Eliminating management layers and bureaucracy
4. Consolidating redundant support functions

A major component of the reorganization is relocating much of USDA’s NCR staff to five hub locations: Raleigh, NC; Kansas City, MO; Indianapolis, IN; Fort Collins, CO; and Salt Lake City, UT. The NCR currently has about 4,600 USDA employees. At the end of the transition, no more than 2,000 are expected to remain in Washington, D.C.

The move is intended to place USDA operations in regions with lower living costs and existing concentrations of USDA staff. Washington, D.C. will still maintain functions for each USDA mission area. The USDA will also return several underused or aging buildings, including the South Building and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, to the General Services Administration. The South Building alone has $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance and is significantly under-occupied.

This announcement marks the first phase of a multi-month process. USDA leadership will begin notifying affected offices about upcoming relocations to the designated regional hubs. To date, 15,364 employees have voluntarily elected deferred resignation through the Department’s Deferred Retirement Program, helping to reduce the overall workforce.

More information can be found in the Secretary’s Memorandum.