The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced plans to relocate more than half of its workforce based in Washington, D.C., to five regional hubs around the country as part of a comprehensive reorganization strategy released recently.
This shift comes alongside the agency’s decision to allow over 15,000 employees to leave the USDA this year under deferred resignation and early retirement offers, marking a significant transition for the agency.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins emphasized that the department is “not conducting a large-scale workforce reduction” involving nonvoluntary layoffs. However, she noted that “focused and limited reductions in force will be implemented only if needed” in her internal memo, signaling potential adjustments as necessary.
In a video addressing staff, Rollins explained that the USDA aims to streamline its structure by reducing some regional office management layers and consolidating redundant functions.
The reorganization plans unveiled by the USDA display a broader ambition than previous attempts, such as the effort during the first Trump administration. In 2019, the USDA sought to relocate several hundred employees in its research divisions from D.C. to Kansas City. However, most employees opted to leave the agency rather than move.
President Donald Trump had previously expressed a desire to relocate as many as 100,000 federal employees from the capital to areas across the nation, aiming to place them in communities that he described as “filled with patriots who love America.”
The USDA’s current reorganization aims to enhance the agency’s connection to the communities it serves while also aiming to manage spending on a workforce that grew substantially under the Biden administration. Notably, USDA reported an 8% increase in workforce size over the past four years and a 14.5% rise in employee salaries.
However, federal workforce data demonstrates that USDA’s staffing in the D.C. metropolitan area has declined under the Biden administration, revealing a net decrease of nearly 600 employees in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland between September 2020 and September 2024.
Conversely, during this timeframe, the USDA experienced staffing increases in states like Kansas, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, Washington, North Carolina, Montana, and Wisconsin.
Rollins reiterated the Trump administration’s promises regarding realigning federal spending, eliminating redundancy, and enhancing service delivery efficiency to constituents. She stated, “We are doing just that by moving our key offices’ services outside Washington D.C. to ensure that USDA is located closer to the people we serve.”
The USDA will relocate thousands of employees currently based in D.C. to five designated hubs, where locality pay rates are comparatively lower. These hubs include:
– Raleigh, North Carolina (22.24% lower locality pay)
– Kansas City, Missouri (18.97% lower locality pay)
– Indianapolis, Indiana (18.15% lower locality pay)
– Fort Collins, Colorado (30.52% lower locality pay)
– Salt Lake City, Utah (17.06% lower locality pay)
In contrast, the D.C. metropolitan area commands one of the highest costs of living in the country, with a federal salary locality rate of 33.94%.
USDA’s selection of hub locations factored in existing employee concentrations and local cost of living conditions. Rollins indicated that human resources employees based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, would not be relocated, maintaining essential laboratories and service centers in cities including St. Louis, Missouri, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Missoula, Montana.
Currently, around 90% of USDA employees work outside of the D.C. area, with the USDA planning to implement the relocation in phases. Approximately 4,600 employees are presently working in the national capital region, but the USDA anticipates retaining no more than 2,000 employees there after the reorganization.
In a notable aspect of the communication process, a USDA employee disclosed that career staff were not informed of the reorganization initiative until shortly before the public announcement. Rollins, in her message to employees, acknowledged that these changes could create disruption for staff and their families.
However, she assured them that the USDA would strive to facilitate a smooth transition over the coming months, emphasizing their support for employees during this process. “We recognize each employee has unique circumstances to consider, and any decisions you pursue are personal and yours alone. But we stand ready to serve you, to help you through this process, and I sincerely hope you will consider staying part of our USDA team as we move into this exciting next chapter of this storied department,” Rollins expressed.
Previous efforts to relocate employees were not met with enthusiasm; during the first Trump administration, a similar initiative faced significant resistance when approximately 50% of the employees receiving relocation notices at the USDA’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture chose to depart rather than move to Kansas City.
The USDA’s reorganization plan also involves vacating some underutilized federal buildings in the D.C. area, returning them to the General Services Administration.
Additionally, the reorganization will affect various divisions within the USDA. The Forest Service, Food and Nutrition Service, and National Agricultural Statistics Service will reduce the number of regional offices, and the Agricultural Research Service plans to eliminate all its regional offices as part of the nationwide restructuring strategy.
Despite the changes, the USDA assures that all critical functions will continue uninterrupted, highlighting that the agency has exceeded its hiring goals for federal firefighters. Furthermore, firefighting and public safety positions have been exempted from a governmentwide hiring freeze set to expire on Oct. 15.
These positions, which are deemed essential for the safety and security of American citizens, national forests, and the country’s agricultural and food supply system, will not be eliminated but may still require relocation.
image source from：federalnewsnetwork
