The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Research, Education and Economics (REE) Mission Area has announced a reorganization and leadership restructuring to better align its work with USDA priorities, improve operational efficiency and deliver results more effectively for American farmers, ranchers and producers.
This effort refocuses REE’s structure on mission delivery — streamlining operations, strengthening leadership accountability and positioning resources closer to the agricultural communities USDA serves. The updated structure will be guided by five core principles: strengthening leadership accountability, reducing organizational complexity, ensuring consistency across agencies where appropriate, leveraging emerging tools and technologies, and aligning clearly with USDA’s priorities.
“By streamlining operations and moving resources closer to the ground, we are making USDA more responsive, more efficient, and better equipped to support American agriculture,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins “This move puts our research institutions outside of the beltway and closer to the land grant universities with talent pipelines who will lead the research and solve the problems facing the future of American agriculture. This is about strengthening our USDA research focus and improving the services the agricultural economy relies on.”
As part of this effort, REE agencies will relocate certain positions based in the National Capital Region (NCR) to locations across the country, bringing research closer to stakeholders. The Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) employees will be relocating some positions from the NCR to their offices in Kansas City. In addition, ERS and NIFA positions that were moved to Kansas City in 2019 and have since sprawled across the country will be relocated to Kansas City, as originally intended.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be relocating some positions located in the NCR, as well as some positions outside the NCR, to St. Louis or other NASS offices. NASS will also be maintaining a field presence to continue to collect information and provide vital statistical services to American farmers and ranchers.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will begin decommissioning the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) and relocating research programs to facilities across the country better aligned with regional agricultural needs. BARC includes more than 400 buildings, many of which are outdated or underutilized, and requires significant deferred maintenance and ongoing investment. Transitioning these programs will allow USDA to modernize its research footprint, improve safety and better connect researchers with the producers they serve. ARS has evaluated its nationwide footprint to identify locations best suited to absorb ongoing research, ensuring continuity while increasing opportunities for collaboration with farmers and industry partners.
The Office of the Chief Scientist will continue to provide scientific leadership across USDA while upholding the highest standards of research integrity and advancing critical priorities. REE’s Business Center will expand its role in supporting mission-critical operations, streamlining administrative functions and improving efficiency across agencies.
