Other Ag News: USDA Staffing Crisis: Rural Development Staff Cuts Leave Rural Communities Behind

This post examines the devastating loss of experienced staff within US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and the consequences for the agency’s ability to support farmers, rural businesses, and communities. As the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) continues to track the staffing crisis across USDA, Rural Development stands out not only for the depth of its losses, but also for the ripple effects those losses create across the entire rural economy.

This post is the latest in our series documenting the widespread staffing crisis underway at USDA and the compounding impacts of the department’s proposed reorganization. Each part of this series highlights how reduced staffing and weakened capacity are undermining core USDA functions that farmers and rural communities depend on every day.

Rural Development (RD) plays a critical role in growing the vitality of rural America. Through a wide range of financial services, technical assistance, and community-focused initiatives, RD supports job creation, business investment, affordable housing, infrastructure improvements, and essential services. A number of priorities for NSAC and its members are housed within RD such as the Value Added Producer Grants, Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, Rural Energy for America Program, the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program, and many others. These programs drive economic opportunity for farmers and improve quality of life in rural communities—outcomes that require knowledgeable staff, consistent program delivery, and strong local partnerships. As RD loses seasoned staff at an alarming pace, farmers and rural communities are already beginning to feel the strain of slower service and reduced capacity.

The previous twenty years have seen a steady erosion of RD staffing numbers, leaving current staffing levels at less than half of what they were in 2005. In addition to steady staff attrition, Rural Development (RD) has been hit extremely hard by recent staff cuts, losing approximately 36% of their staff since January 2025. As rural American communities and farmers endure a period of economic hardship, RD is operating with fewer staff to support them. 

Figure 1: Rural Development staff

RD lost approximately 1,536 staff to the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). The DRP was a program spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce the federal workforce by offering incentives to staff who voluntarily resigned in early 2025. RD had one of the largest losses of any USDA agency, behind only the Forest Service which lost more than 4,000 staff to the DRP and the Natural Resources Conservation Service which lost approximately 2,409. In addition to the losses from the DRP, an additional 188 RD staff separated from the agency between January and March 2025, according to data from OPM. Separations include retirements, early retirement, transferring to a different federal agency, quitting, or any other separation from the agency. 

The staff who separated from RD had an average of 13.5 years of service to the agency; however, this average masks a striking divide: turnover was concentrated at both ends of the experience spectrum. 32% of employees who separated had less than one year on the job while 31% who separated had more than twenty years of experience and institutional knowledge. In other words, RD lost both its most seasoned experts and the next generation of employees.

The impact of losing these bookends of the workforce cannot be overstated. Long-tenured staff hold deep program knowledge, trusted relationships with rural partners, and practical understanding of how to navigate complex federal processes—knowledge that cannot simply be replaced by hiring new staff. At the same time, the departure of early-career employees eliminates the pipeline of future leaders needed to maintain continuity and innovation. These staff losses will undermine the ability of the agency to serve its mission for years to come. 

RD staff, like most other USDA agencies, are predominantly located outside of the Washington, DC region, with less than 4% of RD staff located in Washington, DC. Rural Development is, by design, a field-based agency—its effectiveness depends on local staff who understand regional needs, maintain relationships with communities, and implement programs on the ground.

Staff losses have occurred nationwide, affecting every state and territory. Smaller states with already limited staff numbers were hit especially hard. Rhode Island lost 100% of their staff, essentially eliminating the agency’s presence in the state. Connecticut, Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and Idaho all saw losses exceeding 50 percent, leaving critical gaps in service delivery and severely constraining program access for rural communities. 

These local staff losses matter because RD’s work cannot be centralized or outsourced; it depends on staff who know local lenders, understand rural economies, and collaborate with community partners. This erosion of field staff undermines the agency’s ability to connect farmers and rural community partners with essential programs that strengthen local economies and expand market opportunities.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time in recent history that RD has been undervalued by its political leadership. In the last major USDA reorganization, during President Trump’s first term, then-Secretary Sonny Perdue demoted Rural Development, eliminating it as a mission area with a designated Under Secretary to advance its mission. This move was reversed in the 2018 Farm Bill, but Rural Development continues to be plagued by a lack of support and underinvestment, in addition to these persistent and acutely felt staff shortages.

The map below shows the percentage of RD staff lost in 2025 to both the DRP and other separations. Click on a state to see details and click “get the data” to download the data directly

Figure 2: Rural Development Staff Loss By State

Rural Development staff administer a wide range of programs that serve not only America’s farmers, but also their communities, including loans, business development, housing support, and rural infrastructure. The loss of these staff across the country undermines the agency’s ability to promote rural prosperity and for the USDA to fulfill its mission. As the former RD director for South Dakota told Agri-Pulse: “It is really sad. USDA Rural Development is the only area of government that was really focused on economic development for small rural communities. So, it can be devastating.”

In July 2025, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins released a reorganization plan for the USDA, drafted without any input from farmers or other stakeholders. While the plan does not explicitly outline changes to RD, Secretary Rollins has publicly signaled that the agency may be a target for program or staffing consolidation while President Trump wrongly asserted the duplicative nature of RD programs, limited macro-economic impact, and the costly nature of delivery in his Presidential Budget Request this year. RD investments are, in fact, highly effective programs tailored to the unique needs of rural communities. 

Research shows that counties that received RD investment in rural broadband had higher business survival rates and better employment outcomes than those that did not receive the investments. Research also consistently shows that RD supports farm viability by diversifying farm revenue with value-added products through programs such as the Value Added Producer Grants (VAPG). Analysis by the Economic Research Service finds that “VAPGs enable recipient businesses to reduce the risk of failing and to provide more jobs than the comparison group” and additional research finds that these funds help farm businesses develop their businesses more effectively than otherwise. Value added and local foods development like that supported by VAPGs are widely understood to be an economic multiplier for rural communities in which every $1 of federal investment is multiplied in its positive impact on rural economic growth. 

RD program support is already stretched thin, operating with 36% less of the staff than it had at the start of 2025, including the loss of many employees with decades of institutional knowledge. Any reorganization layered on top of this crisis threatens to deepen the damage and further erode the agency’s ability to deliver critical programs that serve rural communities that depend on it.

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