KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City region will be one of five new regional hubs under a reorganization of the United States Department of Agriculture announced Thursday.
U.S. Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Thursday the USDA will be reorganized into five regional hubs.
In a press release, Rollins said the reorganization allocates resources away from Washington D.C. and “into great American cities across the country.”
In addition to Kansas City, Raleigh, North Carolina, Indianapolis, Indiana, Fort Collins, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah were named regional hubs.
Rollins described Thursday’s announcement as the first phase of a months-long process. USDA officials will notify offices with relocation information to the regional hubs.
“We will do so through a transparent and common-sense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on,” Rollins said. “We will do right by the great American people who we serve and with respect to the thousands of hardworking USDA employees who so nobly serve their country.”
Rollins said Thursday’s announcement is part of the USDA’s efforts to reduce the size of its workforce. She said that as of July 24, more than 15,300 employees have voluntarily elected deferred resignation.
It’s not the first time the Kansas City region has been identified as a location outside of Washington to relocate certain USDA functions.
In 2019, the Kansas City region won a bid to relocate the USDA’s Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. At the time, the relocation impacted roughly 600 jobs.
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