USDA Downsizing Plan to be Ready by Mid-May, Rollins Says

By Ryan Hanrahan

Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks and Steve Davies reported Wednesday that “the Trump administration’s plan for reorganizing and downsizing USDA should be out by the middle of May, and it will likely call for consolidating some programs with other agencies, according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.”

“During an interview with Agri-Pulse on Tuesday after a series of events in the Fargo, North Dakota, region, Rollins indicated some aspects of USDA Rural Development could be among functions of the department that get moved elsewhere,” Wicks and Davies reported. “‘There’s seven agencies that deal with housing, including USDA,’ she said. ‘There are 12 agencies that deal with rural prosperity and rural programming, and not that some of that won’t remain, but this is the first time maybe that our country is taking a really hard look at how we organize our government.'”

“Rollins also suggested federal firefighting services could be consolidating. Major land management agencies are largely split between USDA and Interior. The Forest Service is part of USDA, while the Bureau of Land Management is under Interior,” Wicks and Davies reported. “‘Maybe we keep ours, they keep theirs, but we’ve got to be more effective and efficient in how we fight the wildfires and how we build our firefighters, how we train them. And there’s a better way to do it than the way that we’re doing it,’ Rollins said.”

“She stressed that the reorganization was intended to make government services more efficient,” Wicks and Davies reported. “‘We’re not taking a look at, ‘Are we going to take food away from hungry kids’, or ‘Are we going to stop fighting those wildfires’ — but looking at all of those layers of bureaucracy to make sure we’re doing it in the most efficient and effective way possible with the taxpayer dollars,’ she said.”

Downsizing Plan Follows USDA Buyout Offers

E&E News’ Marc Heller reported on April 10 that “thousands of workers have taken the Trump administration’s second buyout offer at the Department of Agriculture, as the Trump administration continues to shrink the nearly 100,000-employee agency.”

“Employees who’ve seen internal numbers at the USDA indicate the count has reached 3,100 takers at the Forest Service, around 1,200 at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and possibly as many as 12,000 departmentwide — or more than 10 percent of the department’s total employment,” Heller reported. “The voluntary departures represent a wide swath of the agency’s work with communities that rely on its myriad conservation, energy and forestry programs, in addition to protecting the nation’s plants and animals from diseases.”

“The buyouts — deferred resignations with paid leave through September — are a prelude to firings expected to hit the agency in the coming weeks, the number of which depends on how many leave voluntarily. The buyout offer expired Tuesday,” Heller reported. “A USDA spokesperson didn’t comment on specific numbers, except to say they’re still being finalized and are aimed at improving service in the long run. And a Natural Resources Conservation Service employee who took the offer told POLITICO’s E&E News the numbers are subject to change if workers clicked on the offer but don’t ultimately sign the resignation agreement.”

Downsizing Plan Could Include Shrinking USDA Presence in D.C.

Government Executive’s Eric Katz reported on April 7 that “the Agriculture Department is planning to dismantle its presence in Washington, D.C., according to several officials briefed on the plans, and will relocate those it does not lay off to three hubs around the country.”

“The locations for those new offices have not yet been determined, senior officials throughout the department have told employees in recent days, but the shakeup will impact thousands of headquarters staff,” Katz reported. “USDA is expected to offload one of its two Washington headquarters buildings, according to two employees familiar with the matter.”

“The department did not respond to a request for comment but previewed these types of changes on Secretary Brooke Rollins’ first day in office,” Katz reported. “‘USDA is pursuing an aggressive plan to optimize its workforce by eliminating positions that are no longer necessary, bringing its workforce back to the office, and relocating employees out of the National Capital region into our nation’s heartland to allow our rural communities to flourish,’ it said at the time.”