WFU Submits Comments to USDA on Proposed Reorganization Plan

On August 29, 2025, Wisconsin Farmers Union submitted comments to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in response to a proposed reorganization which would move USDA out of Washington D.C., and to five hub cities around the country. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, announced a 30-day comment period on the proposed plan on August 1, 2025. Read public comments submitted by WFU below.

On behalf of 2,500 Wisconsin farm families, Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU) sends comments regarding the proposed reorganization of USDA to five hub cities outside of Washington DC. WFU is concerned that the proposed changes will lead the Department to be less effective and significantly hinder its ability to provide the vital services Wisconsin farmers and rural communities rely on.

USDA should place farmers' voices, and the stakeholders representing them, at the center of any reorganization effort. Congressional leaders in the Agriculture Committee were not consulted prior to the July 24^th announcement from USDA. More notably, at the July 30^th Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the reorganization plan, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vadan confirmed to the Senate that National Farmers Union (NFU) and American Farm Bureau (AFBF) were not consulted prior to this July 24^th relocation announcement. By failing to consult with the stakeholders which represent farmers, USDA is leaving out the farmer-led perspective. Without this understanding of key programs, services, and support that our rural communities rely on, this reorganization will result in vital offices closing and further staff reductions. Ultimately, farmers will pay this price.

Our members are generally concerned that USDA’s planned relocation will lead to a significant downsize of staff, and disruption to the vital services the agency provides to farmers. As of January 2025, USDA has reportedly already lost 21,600 of its employees (or one fifth of total staff). In Wisconsin, we have lost 22,000 USDA employees. In 2019, ERS and NIFA were relocated from Washington DC to Kansas City MO. This relocation resulted in roughly 75% of employees declining relocation offers. In 2022, GAO’s study noted both ERS and NIFA’s productivity declined post-relocation, as well as a sharp decline in people of color employed post-relocation. WFU is concerned this larger planned relocation in 2025 would result in a similar percentage of staff declining relocation offers and, with that, a loss of institutional knowledge and experienced staff at the agency. We are also concerned how this relocation effort will continue to further shrink USDA staff at-large, and lead to closing regional offices, thus affecting the USDA’s ability to provide its vital services to both rural and urban farmers and food systems.

In Wisconsin, we have already been experiencing longer waiting times for programmatic information and application assistance to our members seeking support from FSA, RMA, and NRCS. As of this year, our members have reported a noticeable reduction in agency staff’s ability to respond to grant and program-based questions, execute timely disbursement of funds, and provide on-the-ground technical assistance. Relocation resulting in a further loss of experienced staff from USDA headquarters will only compound this issue and make the overall programs run less efficiently at a greater burden to taxpayers.

WFU sends members to Washington DC regularly to meet with both elected officials and various executive agencies. Moving much of USDA’s headquarters outside of DC will create additional burden for our members, forcing them to leave their farms for an additional trip to meet with USDA. Based on the ‘hub’ locations named by USDA upon this announcement, Wisconsin farmers will have to drive an average of 14 hours to the closest ‘hub’ in Indiana. 

Our members also recognize that the nation’s largest nutrition programs are critical to getting food on the plates of the American people. Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Disruptions in the administration of these programs, due to a lack of regional staff, detailed plans, input gathering, and collaboration with state agency partners, could leave members of our communities struggling and hungry.  

Farmers use USDA’s projections on crops, markets, and trends, as do private and public institutions across the country. WFU is concerned that the relocation will result in a loss of capacity for USDA to continue critical NASS  research, resulting in a loss of public knowledge and ability to plan for a resilient future.

Improving USDA to better serve farmers and ranchers is a noble undertaking that must be evaluated by its impact on USDA’s ability to deliver services effectively to the farmers who depend on them. This planned reorganization falls short of that goal. Mass relocation, resultant staff loss, and program disruptions with no clear rationals for decisions, will be harmful to the needs of all U.S. farmers and ranchers. We urge USDA to re-evaluate this plan and any changes made to USDA’s structure to focus on high-quality programs rather than merely a reduction of staff size. Our members require a responsive, fully staffed USDA from the headquarters to the local offices. 

We further request a published cost-benefit analysis of the ways to both improve services and retain staff, and a formal public comment period via the Federal Register.