Based on an internal union poll, a significant number of Agriculture Department food assistance staff would prefer to resign than move to new locations across the nation.
Last month, USDA revealed plans to relocate most Food and Nutrition Service workers to various parts of the country, following the closure of its Washington, D.C. headquarters and several regional branches.
However, National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 226, which advocates for FNS staff, reports that over 80% of surveyed employees stated they won’t transfer to retain their positions. A separate poll of other USDA personnel facing relocation yielded comparable outcomes.
Roughly one-third of all existing FNS workers participated in the survey. The Food and Nutrition Service employs approximately 1,200 people.
Union representatives informed Federal News Network that both bargaining-unit and non-bargaining-unit staff were encouraged to participate in the survey. They noted that the findings reflect what they’re broadly hearing from FNS personnel.
“Simply put, the overwhelming majority can’t relocate for multiple reasons — family obligations, partners with established careers,” one union representative explained. “Even among those willing to move, there are conditions. Some said, ‘I might move temporarily, but I’ll be job hunting right away.'”
Federal News Network contacted USDA for a response. A department spokesperson previously stated that all 16 federal nutrition initiatives “will proceed without any interruption.”
NTEU Local 226 reported that 81% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) workers, 78% of child nutrition staff, and 90% of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Women (WIC) employees who participated in the survey indicated they would refuse to relocate.
FNS has already lost over a third of its personnel since the Trump administration began. More than 15,000 USDA workers departed last year after accepting deferred resignation and early retirement packages.
“These findings validate what we’ve known all along: mandatory transfers will push dedicated FNS employees to leave in large numbers,” said NTEU Chapter 226 President Amy Rosenthal. “It’s difficult to envision how FNS could successfully run the critical programs that one in four Americans rely on after experiencing a departure of this magnitude.”
The union cautioned that without adequate staffing, FNS workers won’t be capable of generating accurate data on SNAP overpayments and underpayments. The agency would also find it difficult to distribute grants and funding for disaster relief. Around 82 million Americans depend on FNS food aid programs.
USDA is relocating far more positions nationwide now compared to during the first Trump administration — thousands instead of hundreds — though it expects fewer staff to decline transfer requests this time.
In 2019, USDA transferred hundreds of roles at the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City. Yet about 85% of affected staff resigned or retired rather than relocate. American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which advocates for USDA researchers, anticipates similar results this year.
A union-conducted survey earlier this month showed that 76% of its ERS and NIFA members aren’t planning to move. AFGE Local 3403 warned that these relocations, expected to take effect by late summer, will create a “brain drain” within the department.
FNS is currently based in Alexandria, Virginia, and operates seven regional offices nationwide. According to NTEU, the agency will close its headquarters and regional branches in Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and San Francisco as part of this restructuring.
Most affected FNS staff will be transferred to regional centers that USDA identified last year, as part of a plan to relocate over half its D.C.-based headquarters staff.
“We have employees spread across all major U.S. continental time zones — that was by design,” the NTEU Local 226 official said. “This shift would actually place these so-called ‘hubs’ farther from many states, potentially making travel to those areas more challenging.”
Amid these changes, USDA is also renaming the Food and Nutrition Service as the Food and Nutrition Administration.
While USDA experienced significant turnover during the first Trump administration’s relocation efforts, USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden informed lawmakers last summer that department leadership expects fewer staff to refuse transfers this time, because widespread federal layoffs have shrunk the job market in the D.C. region.
“I believe many of them will decide to come, since cuts by other federal agencies here in Washington, D.C., have made the job market less robust than it once was,” Vaden stated before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee last June.
Union officials noted that FNS staff have yet to receive formal relocation notifications or a schedule outlining when these moves would happen.
USDA leadership claims the reorganization is intended to position employees closer to the farmers, ranchers, and communities they assist, while cutting costs by relocating staff to areas with a lower cost of living.
However, a union representative explained that most FNS staff don’t interact directly with the public. On rare occasions, personnel might handle public complaints or investigate potential discrimination or fraud cases.
“We may deploy a team to look into an issue, but FNS doesn’t operate customer-facing offices. Nearly all our work is done digitally,” the official clarified.
Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, stated that the possible upheaval from staff relocations comes at a time when FNS is handling “a significantly larger workload” to carry out major SNAP eligibility reforms under the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed last summer.
“The so-called USDA Food and Nutrition Service reorganization is plainly designed to dismantle the agency’s independent civil service workforce and weaken a public-sector union, rather than enhance service to the public,” Berg remarked. “If Congress allows these changes to proceed, it could undermine the agency’s essential mission for an entire generation.”
USDA is rolling out a broad strategy to move workers from its various agencies outside the nation’s capital region. Approximately 90% of USDA staff already work beyond the D.C. area.
SNAP staff will be relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana. Those working in child nutrition programs will move to Dallas, Texas.
Staff from Supplemental Nutrition and Safety Programs will be transferred to Kansas City, Missouri, while research program employees will shift to Raleigh, North Carolina. FNS staff involved in retailer operations and compliance will be reassigned to offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York City.
In February, USDA announced intentions to sell one of its D.C. headquarters buildings, as part of a broader plan to move roughly 2,000 employees to five hubs spread across the country.
The department has shared limited details about the total expense of this restructuring. However, its fiscal 2027 budget request notes it will cost upwards of $25 million to vacate the USDA South Building and relocate D.C.-based staff to the nearby Jamie L. Whitten and Sidney R. Yates Federal Buildings.
The department is also advancing a sweeping reorganization of the Forest Service that would relocate its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, close its regional offices, and shut down as many as three-quarters of its research facilities.
If you’d like to reach this reporter regarding recent changes in the federal government, please email jheckman@federalnewsnetwork.com, or connect on Signal at jheckman.29
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