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As part of a massive reorganization, the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to consolidate its current regional structure and relocate a portion of its workforce to five hubs across the Midwest and central United States—including Indianapolis.
In a memorandum released Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced plans to move the majority of the agency’s remaining Washington D.C.-based employees away from the nation’s capital and into regions more closely aligned with the department’s target populations: farmers and workers within the agricultural sector.
The move is part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to root out inefficiencies in the federal government. The Department of Agriculture, or USDA, has already used early retirements and buyouts to shrink the size of its workforce by more than 15,000.
Now, to redistribute the remaining workers, they’re using both directed and voluntary reassignments to five cities: Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Fort Collins, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Indianapolis.
Currently, the agency employs about 4,600 people in the D.C. area, what the memo refers to as the “National Capital Region,” or NCR, which has among the highest costs of living in the country. With the relocations, the goal is to reduce the number of employees in the NCR to no more than 2,000.
In recent years, the agency’s workforce grew by 8%, and employee salaries increased by 14.5%. However, according to a news release accompanying Thursday’s memo, this growth did not correlate with any increase in services to the USDA’s core constituencies.
The five hub cities announced on Thursday were chosen, in part, due to general affordability and cost of living for USDA employees. Neither the memo nor the press release specifies how many employees will be relocated to each of the cities.
“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,” Rollins said in a written statement. “We will do so through a transparent and common-sense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on.”
Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana posted to X (formerly Twitter) that the announcement was “very exciting news for Hoosiers.”
“Great to see these services move outside of DC and into places like Indiana that feed our nation,” he wrote.
IBJ Media President Mitch Frazier, who was president and CEO of AgriNovus until June, was part of a delegation of agriculture leaders that met with the USDA secretary in June to pitch Indiana for one of the hubs.
The agency will retain three of its current buildings in the D.C. area and has plans to vacate or sell four others. It will also continue to operate administrative support locations currently in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and will maintain services centers and laboratories already established in St. Louis, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Missoula, Montana.
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Good move!!
Seems strange that there is no USDA office in or closer to California. It seems like a “stick it to the libs” move over where will we be the busiest. Even Las Vegas would have been a better location that SLC with more connecting flights.
And KC is only 4 hours from Indy.
Great and practical news. This ‘model’ could, and should be seriously looked at for other departments in DC. Having everything in DC in years past was practical. No longer necessary.
Wondering where this new Indy location will be.Besides the many seed and fertilizer companies in Indiana, Corteva is one of the bigger players in AG, headquartered here.
Cost of living was the main factor which takes out most of California. Las.Vegas cost of living is higher than the national average.