USDA Leaders Work to Stop Relocation of D.C. Employees

Current and former United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees are calling for a stop to the proposed relocation of more than 2,500 USDA employees from the agency’s headquarters to five regional offices.

As Maryland Matters reported, federal union leaders held a recent online briefing, where speakers said the reorganization process that USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has led “will amount to widespread layoffs, as many workers will choose not to relocate across the country.”

Rollins first outlined that process in a July 2025 memo, spelling out her intention to “bring USDA closer to its customers” by relocating resources, and employees, outside of the National Capital Region (NCR).

“To ensure USDA is located closer to the people it serves while achieving savings to the American taxpayer, USDA will relocate much of its agency headquarters and NCR staff from the Washington, D.C. area to five hub locations,” the memo read.

The selection of these proposed locations—Raleigh, N.C., Kansas City, Mo., Indianapolis, Fort Collins, Colo. and Salt Lake City—took into account existing concentrations of USDA employees and the cost of living for USDA employees, according to the memo. The agency would maintain two core administrative support locations as well, in Albuquerque, N.M. and Minneapolis.

“At the conclusion of implementation, it is USDA’s goal to retain no more than 2,000 employees within the NCR,” the memo read.

As Maryland Matters noted, Office of Personnel Management data show that the USDA has lost more than 20,000 employees since the Trump administration returned to office at the start of 2025.

Speakers at the recent online briefing warned that thousands more would opt to leave rather than relocating to a regional USDA office.

For example, former Acting USDA Secretary Kevin Shea said that the proposed relocation would hamper the department’s ability to deliver its core services, such as fighting pests and diseases, and ensuring food safety.

“All of this requires an adequate and qualified workforce,” said Shea. “These new proposed actions, added to the damage already done, all but ensures that we’ll not have one.”