Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on July 24 plans to reorganize the U.S. Department of Agriculture to “refocus its core operations to better align with its founding mission of supporting American farming, ranching, and forestry.” According to the announcement, “over the last four years, USDA’s workforce grew by 8%, and employees’ salaries increased by 14.5% - including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them. This all occurred without any tangible increase in service to USDA’s core constituencies across the agricultural sector.”

The reorganization plan consists of four pillars:

• Ensure the size of USDA’s workforce aligns with available financial resources and agricultural priorities
• Bring USDA closer to its customers
• Eliminate management layers and bureaucracy
• Consolidate redundant support functions

Details of the reorganization were included in Secretary Memorandum 1078-015 that outlines a phased plan to relocate much of its Agency headquarters and National Capital Region staff (which currently has approximately 4,600 employees) out of the Washington, D.C. area to five hub locations: Raleigh, NC; Kansas City, MO; Indianapolis, IN; Fort Collins, CO, and Salt Lake City, UT. The announcement noted that the reorganization is another step in the Department’s process of reducing its workforce: “Much of this reduction was through voluntary retirements and the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), a completely voluntary tool. As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation.”

The statement emphasizes that all critical functions of the Department will continue uninterrupted, noting that 52 position classifications necessary for national security and public safety would be exempt from the federal hiring freeze. “These positions, including wildland fire fighters, carry out functions that are critical to the safety and security of the American people, national forests, and the inspection and safety of the Nation’s agriculture and food supply system. These positions will not be eliminated. However, employees may be subject to relocation.”