USDA Cuts Jobs: Thousands Workers Fired

February 15, 2025

Thousands of employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture across an array of agencies and jobs have been fired since Thursday, DTN has learned.

USDA on Friday afternoon released a few details about the downsizing and frozen contracts.

The job cuts were part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce the federal workforce. The administration moved to terminate most of the estimated 200,000 probationary employees, meaning they were in their first or second year of federal service.

From what DTN has learned, most of the employees released at USDA agencies were in their probationary periods. That doesn't mean they were all "new" employees. Some people who lost jobs were "probationary" because they had been recently promoted to a job that had a probationary period.

The firings were carried out as newly sworn-in Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins delivered her first address to about 400 USDA staff, members of Congress, and stakeholders at USDA headquarters on Friday morning. Rollins was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

"Here at USDA, we are servants for all Americans," Rollins told the crowd on Friday. "And we understand here at USDA that we do not just have a job, we have a mission."

During her remarks, Rollins also said representatives from the White House staff and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been at USDA "for the past two weeks." She did not specify any changes that DOGE has required of the department.

"We are welcoming the efforts because we know that work will make us better here at USDA. It will make us stronger. It will make us faster and it will make us more efficient."

Rollins added, "We will expect full access from all of our teams here at USDA to this effort and in the days and weeks to come I look forward to personally working with all of you and that team as well for a better and stronger USDA."

Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that 3,400 employees for the U.S. Forest Service, were let go, according to Andy Vanderheuel, who represents the workers for the National Federation of Federal Employees. While firefighters at the Forest Service were spared, many staff responsible for maintenance and conservation work lost their jobs.

Rollins on Friday credited firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service who fought fires that struck Los Angeles. "The bravery, steadfastness, and selfless service of our men and women who stood against the flames is an example to us all," she said.

In a statement Friday afternoon, USDA said the department is undergoing a "workforce optimization." The statement did not provide the number of jobs cut.

"USDA is pursuing an aggressive plan to optimize its workforce by eliminating positions that are no longer necessary, bringing its workforce back to the office, and relocating employees out of the National Capital region into our nation's heartland to allow our rural communities to flourish," USDA's press office stated.

The statement added, "Per the President's directives, Secretary Rollins will lead a new era of USDA to ensure that it is the most efficient, nimble, and innovative department to serve American Agriculture since it was Established by President Abraham Lincoln."

USDA also cited that the department had terminated 78 contracts, which totaled more than $132 million. Additionally, more than 1,000 contracts are currently under review for potential termination. A full list of the contracts terminated was not provided.

USDA's press office added, "This is just the beginning. Over the next few days and weeks, Secretary Rollins will have the opportunity to review thousands of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements and spending across the agency to ensure that every dollar is being spent as effectively as possible to serve the people, not the bureaucracy."

Current and newly terminated employees at agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) posted on social media sites such as Reddit that a high percentage of probationary workers were released. Multiple workers still in the probationary period who lost their jobs posted on social media that they had all received the same email terminating them and blaming poor job performance as the reason.

It's unknown how many NRCS staff were released but the agency began a push in 2022 to hire 1,600 to 2,000 new employees for conservationists and technical support jobs because of an influx of new program demand tied to the Inflation Reduction Act.

USDA staff had been warned in a department-wide email at the end of January that USDA leaders had submitted a list of all probationary employees to the White House Office of Personnel Management.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said the moves by agencies across the federal government to cut probationary employees will take away talent that took years to recruit and develop.

"This administration has abused the probationary period to conduct a politically driven mass firing spree, targeting employees not because of performance, but because they were hired before Trump took office," Kelley said. He added, "These firings are not about poor performance -- there is no evidence these employees were anything but dedicated public servants."

A union steward for the AFGE told DTN that probationary staff from USDA's National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Economic Research Service (ERS) received layoff notices in the middle of the night Thursday stating they were also being released based on performance.

"The union believes these notification notices are illegal," the union steward said. "We're taking the perspective these are illegal firings and the probationary employees should be reinstated."

Other staff from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) also reportedly received similar termination emails.

It's unclear if the Farm Service Agency (FSA) was affected. FSA and NRCS make up the bulk of staff at local USDA service center offices in counties around the country. Earlier this week during a House Agriculture Committee hearing, lawmakers and farmers talked about the importance of having local FSA staff to work with producers.

In her remarks, Rollins said farmers are facing a historic economic crisis.

"You all know, and America's farmers and ranchers know most of all, that American agriculture is in its worst economic straits in nearly a century with grave challenges on prices, on markets and on labor intersecting all at the same time," Rollins said.

Rollins did not mention how quickly she expects USDA to release $10 billion in economic aid to farmers that Congress passed in December.

Rollins also noted that the country is having a conversation about agriculture, food and health. "These are challenges and conversations we cannot avoid, and we do not wish to do so. We will be at the center of both, and we will meet them both with professionalism and patriotism that is at the foundation of this department and our mission together," she said.

After highlighting DOGE and its work at USDA, Rollins shifted to ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are removed at the department. That includes ending any celebrations or events within the department. "We will end identity politics, identity celebrations and DEI here a USDA and across the federal government," she said. "We will neither commemorate or celebrate our beautiful characteristics neither among ourselves, nor among Americans at large. We will instead celebrate the things that make America the best country in the world -- our merit, our faith and our liberty."

USDA will focus on its core mission of supporting farmers, ranchers and forestry, Rollins said, by working with the White House and Congress.

While staff are being cut, Rollins also said all staff at USDA will return to the workplace. "Understand that these are not just expectations from me, these are expectations from the American people, and especially our American farmers and ranchers, who deserve nothing less."

Source: DTN