The US Department of Agriculture’s reorganization plans could weaken the agency’s ability to detect and respond to agricultural disease and invasive pest outbreaks, including the growing threat of New World screwworm, Senate Democrats are warning.
The Agriculture Department’s plans to move its headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, close dozens of research facilities, and relocate thousands of staff working near the nation’s capital threaten to exacerbate the effects of the Trump administration’s federal workforce reduction efforts, the senators wrote in a letter Tuesday to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The letter was led by Sen.
“The reemergence of the New World screwworm in the U.S. highlights the urgent need to fully staff the USDA’s Services, which are on the frontlines of disease outbreak detection and rapid response to dangerous threats to agricultural security,” the letter said.
The renewed staffing concerns come as USDA responds to domestic detections of New World screwworm, a parasitic fly that can kill cattle. Detections of the pest since it was first confirmed in Texas last week are already spreading, officials said Monday.
Senators were particularly concerned about losing expertise within the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service, the Food Safety Inspection Service, and the Agricultural Marketing Service. They cited a relocation under the first Trump administration that incited major staff departures, including the relocation of the Economic Research Service to Kansas City.
They also warned that maintaining senior career expertise in Washington is essential for coordinating responses to national emergencies.
More than 90% of USDA employees already work outside of the DC area.
The workforce reductions and impending restructuring also implicate food safety oversight, the letter said. The Agriculture Department is responsible for regulating meat, poultry, and some egg products that account for about 20% of the domestic food supply.
Lawmakers asked officials how many counties containing at least one meat processing facility have lost more than 10% of local staff employed by the food safety service, which deploys veterinarians to prevent contaminated products from entering the food supply; 59 counties across the country no longer have one, the letter said.
At the same time, consumer complaints filed to the FSIS reached an all-time high during fiscal 2025, up nearly 40% over the previous year, according to a USDA report released in April.
“To succeed, USDA needs both resources in the field and centralized senior command and control expertise in Washington,” the lawmakers wrote.