USDA expands reorganization plans, doubling down on employee relocations from first Trump administration

Key Points:

• The USDA is expanding its reorganization by relocating about two-thirds of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) workforce from the D.C. area to new facilities in Iowa and Georgia, including a new National Food Safety Center in Urbandale, Iowa, and a Science Center in Athens, Georgia.
• Approximately 200 FSIS employees will be reassigned, with around 100 positions remaining in D.C. for policy and congressional support; frontline inspectors, who make up 85% of FSIS staff, will not be affected.
• The department is continuing relocations initiated under the Trump administration, moving Economic Research Service (ERS), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) employees to hubs like Kansas City and St. Louis.
• USDA plans to decommission the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, relocating research programs nationwide to modernize facilities and better align research with regional agricultural needs.
• The Forest Service is undergoing major restructuring, including moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City, potentially closing 57 of 77 research facilities, eliminating 800 research scientist positions, and closing all nine regional offices; a proposed merger of wildland firefighting capabilities with the Interior Department was rejected by Congress but will be studied further.