USDA Brain Drain Accelerates as Three-Quarters of Staff Refuse Relocation

The USDA is pushing ahead with relocating thousands of DC employees to regional hubs despite a lawsuit and overwhelming staff resistance. Critics warn the reorganization threatens food safety oversight, trade programs, and decades of agricultural research.

The US Department of Agriculture is barreling forward with the largest reorganization in its history — relocating more than 2,600 Washington-area employees to five regional hubs — despite a pending federal lawsuit and warnings from Congress that the agency is engineering a "massive brain drain."

Three-quarters of affected USDA workers have told their union they will not relocate, according to reporting by NOTUS and union filings. The relocation plan, first announced by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in July 2025, targets hubs in Raleigh, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Fort Collins, and Salt Lake City, with a goal of keeping no more than 2,000 of the current 4,600 employees in the Washington region.

Food Safety and Inspection Service employees were given until June 30 to decide whether to uproot their families or face "involuntary separation." The Natural Resources Conservation Service and other divisions face similar deadlines through August.

"It is hard to reach any other conclusion than that the purpose of this is to dramatically reduce the size of the federal civil service," said former USDA Undersecretary Robert Bonnie. "There is no compelling reason to do this."

A coalition of current and former USDA employees, nonprofits, and local governments is suing to block the reorganization, arguing it is a "ruse for forcing employees to quit because they work on programs — like feeding low-income women and children, protecting our forests, or scientific research — that this Administration opposes for political reasons." The lawsuit notes this is equivalent to "5 million years of expertise" lost in 18 months.

The USDA counters on its website that the reorganization fears are a "myth" — claiming no layoffs are planned, no programs will be eliminated, and that hub-based structures will "break down current regional silos." But the USDA's own 2025 workforce plan acknowledged it expects "a significant number of employees will decline geographic reassignments."

The relocation comes on top of significant cuts the USDA already absorbed during the DOGE-era workforce reductions. Research programs, wildfire response coordination, and federal nutrition assistance — including SNAP and Child Nutrition Programs — are all among the functions being scattered across the country.

Sources: FoodNavigator, Farm Policy News