The Foreign Agricultural Service will establish an organizational support hub in Kansas City. In the USDA news release, it said this brings programs and employees closer to farmers, ranchers and rural communities. Most of the Washington D.C.-based staff will be relocated to facilities in Beltsville, Maryland. USDA Rural Development will move some jobs to St. Louis and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Changes are also being made to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to increase efficiency. Commodity-specific programs will be streamlined. As an example, the Packers and Stockyards Division will move to the AMS Livestock and Poultry Program. USDA announced the reorganization plan nearly a year ago, moving much of its Washington-area workforce to regional hubs across the country.
