Although the efforts of staff working for the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE) have not drawn banner headlines at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the way that other departments and agencies have been affected, the implementation of the DOGE principles of cutting staff numbers and budgetary costs for programs operated or overseen by USDA have already had significant impacts.
A recent Reuters article found that around 15,000 of the approximately 106,000 USDA employees have taken some form of buyout to leave the agencies they once worked for, some of them for several decades. These buyouts involved modest cash payments and a commitment to putting those employees on extended paid leave, for many employees across the federal government starting on May 1st, until their resignation takes effect on September 30, 2025. This approach was called the Deferred Resignation/Retirement Program or DRP. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed the Reuters estimate in testimony on Capitol Hill on May 6th.
This figure does not include the nearly 5,700 staff across USDA who were fired due to their probationary status back in February but were ordered to be reinstated to their jobs in March by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board for at least a 45 day period while the Board members continued their investigation.
The Reuters piece listed USDA employees taking the buyout by mission area rather than at the individual agency level. The largest tally was for employees in the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area, where nearly 4,100 staff have voluntarily left their positions at either the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the Risk Management Agency (RMA), or the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Just over 4,000 employees have left the Natural Resource and Environment (NRE) mission area, which consists solely of the Forest Service (FS). The Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area, consisting of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and the Economic Research Service (ERS) has lost exactly 1,600 employees through the buyout, and the Rural Development mission area has lost 1,538 staff. The remaining mission areas and staff and departmental offices have lost a total of 3,905 staff.
The process of reducing the staffing level at USDA is evidently still unfinished. Late last month, Secretary Rollins indicated that she would be announcing a further restructuring of USDA sometime in May. This effort will include further terminations of USDA employees through a formal Reduction in Force (RIF), as well as moving many USDA employees out of the Washington DC area to work at one of three regional hubs, whose locations have not yet been identified publicly.
It is too early to assess in a quantitative way the impact of these staff reductions on how USDA will function in the future. However, it seems reasonable to assert that with many USDA employees having to shoulder a larger workload after their colleagues’ departures, the time it will take to process many kinds of program applications and claims will be extended. It is important to note that nearly two-thirds of the staff departures under the most recent DRP window worked previously at the USDA agencies which have the most direct interactions with farmers, ranchers, and other rural residents at the local level, namely staff for NRCS, FSA, RMA, RD, and the FS. In any case, the full impact cannot be known until the details of the upcoming restructuring plan are announced and implemented.
In addition, the DOGE process has also resulted in the freezing and at least in some cases cancellations of many USDA projects approved and funded under the previous administration. For example, USDA cancelled funds for a Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program in March, resulting in a total loss of $1 billion in funding for local food purchases by schools and food banks.
Last month, USDA cancelled all but 19 of the 135 projects operating under the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities Initiative, which were a variety of pilot projects intended to develop new ways to encourage farmers and ranchers to adopt certain conservation practices which are known to sequester carbon or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those farmers and ranchers were then to be provided opportunities to benefit from labeling regimes which might earn them a higher price for their commodities produced using the new practices. Secretary Brooks referred to this effort as a ‘slush fund’ for NGO’s, although participants in the cancelled projects will be offered the opportunity to re-apply for the funds if they meet certain new criteria, including guarantees that a significant portion of the funds (65 percent) go directly to enrolled farmers. The details of the process under which this re-application can take place have not yet been disclosed.
On May 1, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), released a so-called ‘skinny budget’ proposal for fiscal year 2026, which provides highlights of how President Trump would propose to fund annual discretionary expenditures for the U.S. government. The detailed budget documents are supposed to be released later this spring. The President’s request seeks to cut discretionary spending at USDA by a net of nearly $4.6 billion for FY26, including nearly $1 billion in cuts to research funding at the four REE agencies plus the Forest Service, more than $750 million in cuts to conservation technical assistance at NRCS, $721 million in cuts to Rural Development programs, $783 million in cuts to Forest Service operations, and $358 million in cuts to FSA staffing. Congress is currently holding hearings to hear from the various Cabinet Secretaries about the proposals relating to their Departments, although Congress is not obligated to accept the President’s budget proposals.
