USDA will relocate most of its D.C.-based workforce

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Source: Washington Post

USDA will relocate most of its D.C.-based workforce

The agency will relocate about 2,600 employees to five other locations and shutter several key facilities in the capital region, including its historic main research center.

Updated
July 24, 2025 at 4:45 p.m. EDT today at 4:45 p.m. EDT
8 min


Banners of Presidents Donald Trump and Abraham Lincoln hang from the USDA building in Washington. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

By Meryl Kornfield, Olivia George and Hannah Natanson

The Department of Agriculture will relocate a majority of its Washington-based workforce to five other locations and shutter several key facilities in the capital region, including its historic main research center, the agency said Thursday. ... Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told employees in a video message that the move is aimed at reducing costs and moving the agency’s workforce, which is already primarily scattered across the country, “closer to the people we serve.” About 2,600 out of 4,600 employees will be relocated to Salt Lake City; Fort Collins, Colorado; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

The agency will also vacate the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, as well as an office building in D.C., and the Alexandria office for the Food and Nutrition Services. The agency is not leaving its main headquarters, which is called the Whitten Building; the Yates Building, where the Forest Service is located; or the National Agricultural Library. ... “In the coming months and where applicable, my team will be notifying your offices with more information on relocation to one of those five regional hubs,” Rollins told the staff.

{snip}

In addition to moving the staff from Washington, the department is also downsizing staffing in other parts of the country. An agency memo said the Agriculture Research Service will close area offices, the Forest Service will phase out nine regional offices over the next year and reduce research stations to one in Colorado, and other subagencies will reduce their spread to five hubs. {snip} The Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agriculture Research Center will be “vacated over multiple years to avoid disruption of critical USDA research activities,” according to Thursday’s department announcement. The nearby George Washington Carver Center — named after the pathbreaking Black agricultural scientist and inventor — will be “sold or transferred upon conclusion of its use as a temporary location for USDA personnel.”

{snip}

Employees are now awaiting decisions that could dramatically change their lives. For one couple, news of the impending relocation hit double hard because they both work for the Agriculture Department — and they fear that at least one of them will be moved elsewhere in the country, the husband said. If they are both reassigned, there is no guarantee it will be to the same place. ... Surprisingly, he said, he hasn’t felt upset in the hours since Agriculture announced the reorganization. He hasn’t cried. ... “Maybe because it’s been seven months of one thing after another, and at this point I feel numb,” he said. “And that’s the attitude I am seeing all around the building today. It’s just like, ‘Oh. Well. Another thing.’”

By Meryl Kornfield
Meryl Kornfield is a staff writer on the Politics desk of The Washington Post.follow on Xmerylkornfield

By Olivia George
Olivia George covers the impact of the Trump administration and the larger federal government on the D.C. area. Send her secure tips on Signal @OCGeorge.59.follow on XOliviaCGeorge

By Hannah Natanson
Hannah Natanson is a Washington Post reporter covering Trump's reshaping of the government and its effects. Reach her securely on Signal at 202-580-5477.follow on Xhannah_natanson

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/24/usda-relocate-trump-rollins/

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