USDA Announces Research, Education, & Economics Organizational Restructuring

On April 23, 2026, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a reorganization of its Research, Education, and Economics mission area, relocating positions from the national capital region as part of the department-wide reorganization plan. Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) positions will move to those agencies' Kansas City offices; the announcement stated that positions relocated to Kansas City in 2019 that "have since sprawled across the country" will also be returned there. National Agricultural Statistics Service positions inside and outside the capital region will move to St. Louis or other NASS offices, and the Agricultural Research Service will begin decommissioning the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center — a campus of more than 400 buildings — relocating its research programs to facilities around the country. USDA said the restructuring would streamline operations, strengthen leadership accountability, and position research closer to agricultural communities. Employees and their unions voiced concern that the relocations would cause mass resignations, pointing to the first Trump administration's 2019 relocation of ERS and NIFA to Kansas City, which drove the departure of most affected employees.