By Leah Douglas
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Wednesday the next phase of the Department of Agriculture’s reorganization will be announced by the end of this week and will involve the relocation of researchers.
The agency has said it will move most of its Washington-area staff – about 2,600 people – to five regional hubs in an effort to bring the workforce closer to farmers. Most USDA employees already live outside Washington.
The next reorganization phase will include moving researchers closer to land-grant institutions and was being finalized on Wednesday, Rollins told the agriculture subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
More than 15,000 USDA employees took financial incentives to leave the agency last year as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reorganize and shrink the federal government.
USDA plans to sell one of its two headquarters buildings in Washington as part of its reorganization. The agency also recently said it will relocate the Forest Service headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, Utah.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese and Deepa Babington)
