USDA to vacate several Washington buildings, relocate staff to regional hubs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday it will relocate much of its staff in the Washington, D.C., area to five regional hubs and vacate several buildings in the nation’s capital, including its flagship research center.

No more than 2,000 USDA employees will remain in the Washington area at the conclusion of the reorganization effort, the agency said in a news release. The remaining 2,600 people will be relocated to hubs in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City.

The USDA also said it will vacate several locations in the Washington area, including its flagship research center, the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, and one of its headquarters buildings on the National Mall.

“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,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. “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.

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The USDA said it will relocate much of its staff in the Washington, D.C., area to five regional hubs and vacate several buildings in the area. (Getty Images / Fox News)

“We will do so through a transparent and commonsense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on,” she continued. “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.”

In a video to staff, Rollins said the plan to relocate workers was made to bring the agency’s staff closer to its “core constituents.”

The USDA’s plan is the latest effort by the Trump administration to reorganize and downsize the federal workforce. 

The agency is not making widespread cuts to its staff, although the relocation plan is part of the USDA’s process of reducing its workforce, it said in the release.

It said much of its reduction was through voluntary retirements and the agency’s Deferred Retirement Program. More than 15,000 workers, about 15% of its total workforce, voluntarily chose one of the two financial incentive offers to resign.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the plan to relocate workers was intended to bring the agency’s staff closer to its “core constituents.” (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s chair, Arkansas Republican Sen. John Boozman; the ranking member, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar; and the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, Minnesota Democrat Rep. Angie Craig, said in statements they were not consulted on the plan and called for hearings on the reorganization effort.

“The best way to serve our agriculture community is by working together, so it’s disappointing USDA didn’t share its plans in advance of this announcement,” Boozman said.

Craig said the “planned reorganization announced by the agriculture secretary without notice or input from Congress or key stakeholders and constituencies demonstrates that this administration failed to learn the lessons from previous similar efforts and is willfully risking the effectiveness of the agencies and programs that support America’s family farmers.”

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The USDA will vacate several locations in the Washington area, including its flagship research center. (Reuters)

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The USDA also plans to reduce or close some regional offices, including consolidating the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which publishes agricultural market data, from twelve offices to five, according to a memo from the agency.

Additionally, the Forest Service will close its nine regional offices over the next year in a plan that “will take into consideration the ongoing fire season,” the memo noted.

The Agricultural Research Service’s staff have already struggled with its workload after the voluntary resignations, according to employee Ethan Roberts.

“Many will not take the [relocation] offer, and we will lose even more administrative employees that are critical to the everyday functioning of the USDA and ARS,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.