You’re Fired! 

“You’re fired!” Again?!

None of us could have guessed how often we’d be using this phrase within Trump’s first few weeks back in office.

Weren’t some firings already covered? Yes, but not to this scale. Since last Thursday night (just in time for Valentine’s Day), thousands of USDA employees across a variety of agencies have been fired. The list includes but isn’t limited to FSA loan analysts in field offices, EPA workers, ag scientists, 3,400 forest service employees, and approximately 1,200 NRCS staff. USDA employees with new “senior executive service status” were demoted.

Ag wasn’t the only sector impacted. Trump’s administration terminated most of the 200K-ish probationary government employees in their first or second year of federal office. This included folks within their first few years of promotions, too.

Soundbite: “Employees were given no notice, no due process, and no opportunity to defend themselves in a blatant violation of the principles of fairness and merit that are supposed to govern federal employment.” — Everett Kelley, American Federation of Government Employees President

ICYMI, an additional 75K federal employees accepted Trump’s offer to leave their jobs in return for being paid through September. It’s unclear how many of these were USDA employees. 

USDA Statement: “USDA is pursuing an aggressive plan to optimize its workforce by eliminating positions that are no longer necessary, bringing its workforce back to the office, and relocating employees out of the National Capital region into our nation’s heartland to allow our rural communities to flourish.”

Your price is way too high, you need to cut it: The USDA has slashed 78 contracts, coming in at $132M. An additional 1K are under review for potential termination. 

TLDR: Sweeping governmental firings to cut costs might mean lower quality of service from ag agencies for farmers.