More than 12,000 USDA employees may be leaving after accepting buyout offers from the Trump administration.
The numbers include 3,000 from the Forest Service and 1,200 from APHIS. This could amount to more than 10% of the department’s workforce.
The buyouts include paid leave until resignations take effect in September.
The Supreme Court recently allowed the administration to move forward with firing about 16,000 probationary federal workers, some from the USDA.
Related Stories
Alaska Congressman discusses his new role as Executive Vice Chair of the Congressional Western Caucus and his priorities for the West in the 119th Congress.
Farm legal expert Roger McEowen discusses the EPA’s rescission of the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases and what it could mean for agriculture and rural America.
The USDA says the framework is about “ending abusive government overreach” and “protecting farmers, families, and private property.”
Farm numbers still favor small operations, but production, resilience, and risk management are increasingly concentrated among fewer, larger farms.
The USDA opened a new sterile fly-dispersal facility at Moore Air Base in South Texas to prevent a potential outbreak of New World screwworm and protect the small U.S. cattle herd.
