In a bold move aimed at restoring the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) core mission, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins unveiled a comprehensive reorganization plan on July 24, 2025. The initiative is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to streamline federal operations and will significantly reduce USDA’s footprint in the Washington, D.C. area by relocating thousands of employees to regional hubs across the country.
The plan will cut over half of USDA’s Washington-based staff, reducing the National Capital Region workforce from 4,600 to no more than 2,000 employees. This dramatic reduction is part of a broader strategy to bring USDA closer to its customers and improve service delivery.
Rollins said in a statement about the relocation plan:
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. President Trump was elected to make real change in Washington, and we are doing just that by moving our key services outside the beltway and into great American cities across the country. We will do so through a transparent and common-sense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on. 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.
Key Objectives of the Reorganization
The USDA’s reorganization is anchored by four strategic pillars, each aimed at restoring the department’s core mission and improving service delivery.
Rollins emphasized that the reorganization is designed to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and better serve farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.
1. Align Workforce Size with Financial Resources and Priorities
- USDA’s workforce grew by 8% over four years, with salaries rising 14.5%, often funded by temporary resources. This reorganization is being done in part to ensure that the agency can afford its workforce.
- The department is not initiating a large-scale reduction in force but will continue voluntary departures through programs like the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA), and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIPs).
- Seasonal workforce needs (e.g., wildland firefighting, harvest grading) will be protected.
- Directed and voluntary reassignments will help align staff with mission-critical roles.
2. Bring USDA Closer to Its Customers
- Approximately 4,600 employees currently work in the National Capital Region (NCR), which has a high locality pay rate of 33.94%.
- USDA aims to reduce NCR staff to no more than 2,000 and relocate headquarters functions to five regional hubs.
- Relocation sites were selected based on existing USDA staff concentrations and cost-of-living considerations for USDA employees.
3. Eliminate Management Layers and Bureaucracy
- Standalone regional offices and redundant management layers will be phased out.
- Agencies will consolidate operations into hub locations:
- Agricultural Research Service: Eliminating area offices
- National Agricultural Statistics Service: Consolidating 12 regions into 5
- Food and Nutrition Service: Reducing 7 regions to 5
- Forest Service: Phasing out 9 regional offices; consolidating research stations into Fort Collins
- Natural Resources Conservation Service: Aligning with hub locations
4. Consolidate Redundant Support Functions
- Civil rights, FOIA, legislative affairs, communications, IT, HR, and contracting functions will be centralized.
- Contracting for common goods and services will transition to the General Services Administration in FY 2026.
- Specialized teams (e.g., wildland firefighting, commodity procurement) will be retained.
- The Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization will be reduced to a single statutory role.
New Regional Hub Locations
USDA will relocate much of its 4,600-person National Capital Region (NCR) workforce to five newly designated hub cities:
| Hub Location | Locality Pay Rate |
|---|---|
| Raleigh, NC | 22.24% |
| Kansas City, MO | 18.97% |
| Indianapolis, IN | 18.15% |
| Fort Collins, CO | 30.52% |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 17.06% |
In addition to these hubs, USDA will maintain administrative support centers in:
- Albuquerque, NM
- Minneapolis, MN
And continue operations at critical service centers in:
- St. Louis, MO
- Lincoln, NE
- Missoula, MT
Facilities to Be Vacated
Several USDA buildings in the D.C. area will be vacated due to underutilization and costly deferred maintenance:
- South Building (with $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance)
- Braddock Place
- Beltsville Agricultural Research Center
The George Washington Carver Center will be used temporarily during the transition but is slated for eventual sale or transfer.
Workforce Impacts
While USDA states it is not conducting a large-scale reduction in force, the plan continues a trend of voluntary departures. Over 15,000 employees have already exited via the Deferred Retirement Program. Rollins anticipates that 50–70% of current D.C.-based staff may opt to relocate, while others may transition to private sector roles.
Historical Precedent: USDA Relocations Under the First Trump Administration
The current reorganization echoes a similar effort during President Trump’s first term. In 2019, then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced the relocation of two USDA research agencies—the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)—from Washington, D.C. to Kansas City, Missouri.
Although the Biden administration later moved the agencies back to Washington, the 2019 relocation set a precedent for geographically decentralizing USDA operations. The current plan builds on that foundation but expands the scope dramatically.
