The Trump administration plans to push thousands of workers from the US Department of Agriculture from the Washington region, Colombia County, forcing them to move to distant offices if they want to keep their jobs.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has announced the plan in a press release on Thursday, with her office claiming that this move will “bring better” the agency “with its justified mission for supporting US agriculture, ranch and forestry.”
Rollins said the department operates about 4,600 workers in the DC area, but by the time the transition ends, it plans to remain “not above 2000” in the nation’s capital. He also expects to close the bigger part of his buildings in the area, including a major research center.
Employees in the DC area will be transferred to hub places in Ralei, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah, the agency said.
Rollins acknowledged that this move would create “personal disturbance for you and your families” in a video aimed at agency employees.
“This decision was not slightly inscribed,” she said.
Everett Kelly, President of The US Federation of Government Officers, a Union representing USDA workers, told Huffpost in a statement that this move would harm the agency. He noted that despite common misconceptions, 85% of federal officials already live outside the Washington region, Colombia County.
“But DC is the center of our country’s government for a reason, as it facilitates the necessary coordination between the senior management and the field services and ensures that the agencies are at the table when decisions are made in the White House and in Congress,” Kelly said.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins spoke during a press conference at the USDA headquarters in Washington, Columbia County, on July 14, 2025. Brendan Smialowski through Getty Images
He separated the announced closure of the Beltsville agricultural research center in Maryland as a particularly deluded, calling it a “crown jewel” for critical research.
“I am concerned that this reorganization is just the last attempt to remove USDA workers and minimize their critical work,” Kelly added.
The motion proposal is reminiscent of a similar, controversial plan in the USDA from Trump’s first Presidency.
In 2019, the then secretary of agriculture Sony Perdyu announced that two USDA agencies would be moved to Kansas City to save money and put employees at Heartland. This move crushed morality and prompted many workers to leave, not to raise the lives of their families; It also nourishes a successful campaign to organize the Union among USDA employees.
Mick Mulvani, who was later director of Trump’s budget, still boasted how many resignations were prompted by the plan.
Huffpost announced earlier this year about how this move was still curled up to the agency and its mission more than five years later. The USDA economist said the relocation plan seems a little more than the mass dismissal concealed.
“We had many people who had spent their careers in many specific areas – many niche questions,” the economist said. “And when they left, it was so sudden and abruptly that you didn’t have time to bring the next generation. You just had to leave all your work and go.”
Rollins claims that the push of workers in other countries will benefit from the agency’s work.
“President Trump was elected to make a real change in Washington, and we are doing just that by moving our key services outside Beltway and to major US cities across the country,” she said.
The proposal is aligned with Trump’s wider attacks against the federal workforce.
After taking power in January, the administration has headed to push federal government officials, or through their dismissal through legally suspicious means, luring them to leave through early retirement proposals, or make them so unhappy that they decide to give up.
More than 15,000 USDA employees have taken the proposal for the “postponement” of the administration earlier this year, raising concerns about how it will continue to apply food safety, administer agricultural programs and conduct critical research. In fact, so many chose to leave this USDA guide Encourage some to change their mindsS