🚜USDA implements RIF forcing 2,600 relocations under reorganization
Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Labor & Employment
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced July 24, 2025 that USDA will relocate 2,600 of its 4,600 Washington-based employees to five regional hubs in Utah, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, and North Carolina. The department will shutter its historic Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and eliminate multiple regional offices while 15,364 employees have already accepted "voluntary" retirement buyouts. Union leaders call it a ploy to force resignations without paying severance.
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Why This Matters
🔬 Crown jewel of agricultural research shuttered after 115 years
Beltsville Research Center developed crops feeding billions—its closure ends critical food security research as climate change threatens agriculture.
💸 Forced relocations let agencies fire workers without severance
Employees who refuse mandatory moves get terminated "for cause," losing retirement benefits they earned over decades of service.
📍 95% of USDA already works outside DC—this targets coordination staff
Headquarters employees ensure farmers get heard in Washington; removing them isolates rural America from policy decisions.
📄 File FOIA requests now for relocation data at USDA.gov
Demand transparency on which positions get eliminated versus relocated—sunlight exposes whether moves target policy opponents.
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Detailed Content
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Categorize these USDA changes by their real impact on government function.
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Public Policy
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Match USDA's relocation tactics to their real purposes.
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Government
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How many USDA employees must relocate from Washington D.C. to regional hubs?
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Government
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Where are USDA's five new regional hubs located?
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Government
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How much will each USDA relocation cost according to budget office estimates?
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Labor & Employment
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What transparency tool does the topic recommend using to expose relocation targeting?
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Civic Action
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Who announced the USDA reorganization on July 24, 2025?
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Agriculture & Rural Affairs
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What happened when USDA relocated ERS and NIFA to Kansas City in 2019?
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Government
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Which Trump appointee announced the USDA relocation plan affecting 2,600 DC workers?
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Government
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How many USDA employees accepted the Deferred Resignation Program rather than face forced relocations?
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Labor & Employment
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What did the USDA Inspector General find about the 2019 Kansas City relocations?
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Ethics & Government Accountability
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USDA will close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center after 115 years.
True/False
Agriculture & Rural Affairs
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95% of USDA employees already work outside Washington D.C.
True/False
Agriculture & Rural Affairs
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The 2019 USDA relocation to Kansas City was so successful that most employees voluntarily moved.
True/False
Agriculture & Rural Affairs