Photo by Sabrina Halvorson
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is preparing to cut up to 10% of its workforce and shift thousands of jobs out of Washington, D.C., as part of a major reorganization effort, Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed this week.
“We have already accepted and put on probation a significant number of employees,” Rollins said during a media briefing near Fargo, North Dakota. “The ultimate planning and reorganization should be finished…by early to mid-May.”
While the shakeup includes plans to consolidate offices and vacate one of USDA’s headquarters buildings, Rollins said local Farm Service Agency (FSA) and NRCS offices will remain a priority.
“One of the most important messages [farmers] send us is that interface with the FSA and those on-the-ground employees is really, really important,” she said. “There will be offices that need more staff… and there will be offices that perhaps are overstaffed.”
USDA is also exploring new regional office hubs and working with Elon Musk’s team to modernize operations using current technology, according to Rollins.
The restructuring has sparked bipartisan concern in Congress, with some lawmakers questioning the scale and process of the changes. USDA has yet to announce where the new hubs will be located.