U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced Thursday the reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), refocusing its core operations to better align with its founding mission of supporting American farming, ranching, and forestry.
Over the last four years, USDA’s workforce grew by 8 percent, and employees’ salaries increased by 14.5 percent – including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them. President Trump has made it clear he wants government to be scrutinized, and after this thorough review of USDA, Sec. Rollins said the results show a bloated, expensive, and unsustainable organization.
According to Sec. Rollins, all critical functions of the Department will continue uninterrupted.
“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,” Sec. Rollins said.
The reorganization consists of four pillars:
- Ensure the size of USDA’s workforce aligns with available financial resources and agricultural priorities.
- Bring USDA closer to its customers.
- Eliminate management layers and bureaucracy.
- Consolidate redundant support functions.
To bring USDA closer to the people it serves while also providing a more affordable cost of living for employees, USDA has developed a phased plan to relocate much of its Agency headquarters and National Capital Region (NCR) staff out of the Washington, D.C. area to five hub locations.
The Department currently has approximately 4,600 employees within the NCR. This Region has one of the highest costs of living in the country, with a federal salary locality rate of 33.94 percent. In selecting its hub locations, USDA considered where existing concentrations of USDA employees are located and factored in the cost of living. Washington, D.C. will still hold functions for every mission area of USDA at the conclusion of this reorganization, but USDA expects no more than 2,000 employees will remain in the NCR.
USDA’s five hub locations and current Federal locality rates are:
- Raleigh, N.C. (22.24 percent)
- Kansas City, Mo. (18.97 percent)
- Indianapolis (18.15 percent)
- Fort Collins, Colo. (30.52 percent)
- Salt Lake City, Utah (17.06 percent)
This is only the first phase of a multi-month process. Over the next month and where applicable, USDA senior leadership will notify offices with more information on relocation to one of the regional hubs.
To make certain USDA can afford its workforce, this reorganization is another step of the Department’s process of reducing its workforce. Much of this reduction was through voluntary retirements and the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), a completely voluntary tool. As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation.
What Indiana public officials have to say
On Thursday, The Reporter received comments from two state and two federal officials on the selected of Indianapolis and a USDA hub.
Beckwith
“I’m thrilled the USDA chose Indianapolis as one of its five hubs,” Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith said. “Having services and decision-makers in the Hoosier state naturally gives our rural communities an advantage in agricultural innovation.”
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Lamb
“I had the pleasure of meeting with Secretary Rollins a few weeks ago regarding the potential USDA reorganization and was proud to represent Indiana alongside my fellow Hoosier agriculture leaders and Senator Jim Banks,” Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Don Lamb said. “[Thursday’s] announcement is a big win for Indiana agriculture and for our farmers who utilize USDA services each day. Home to Corteva Agriscience, Elanco Animal Health and Beck’s Hybrids, Indiana has dozens of large and small agribusinesses and research universities, like Purdue University, that maintain the mission of feeding our world and conserving our natural resources. Indiana is an agriculture powerhouse, and we know this relocation will only strengthen our industry.”
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Banks
“This is huge news for Indiana,” U.S. Senator Jim Banks said. “I am grateful to President Trump and Secretary Rollins for recognizing the strength and vision our state and agricultural leaders demonstrated during our meeting last month. This is a win-win for Indiana and taxpayers across the country. It means real economic growth here at home and an agency that’s more efficient and focused on what matters most.”
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Young
Very exciting news for Hoosiers – Indianapolis has been selected as one of five new USDA regional hub locations,” U.S. Senator Todd Young tweeted. “Great to see these services move outside of DC and into places like Indiana that feed our nation.”