USDA staff experiences layoffs, reorganization and shutdown

From mass layoffs in February to reorganization in July and the shutdown in October, the USDA has undergone major changes so far in 2025.

USDA terminations started Feb. 13, the day Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was sworn in. Rollins welcomed the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, to find parts of the USDA budget to cut.

It was unclear how many were affected.

On Feb. 25, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, led Committee Democrats in pressing the USDA to explain massive department layoffs. The senators asked how many USDA employees were fired and for a breakdown by state, agency, job position and veteran status.

In a letter to Rollins, the senators wrote: “These widespread layoffs jeopardize USDA’s ability to respond to the ongoing avian flu outbreak, process farm loans, disaster relief and other assistance for farmers and distribute grants and loans for infrastructure and services that rural Americans rely on.”

Since February, several concerning waves of personnel reduction happened within the USDA, said Jonathan Coppess, University of Illinois associate professor of agricultural policy.

“What will USDA look like if it gets hollowed out in this process?” he said. “There’s a resiliency in these agencies, and the question is how much can they take and who will be driven away first. There are really great people at USDA doing good work and that put a lot of time into it.”