Trump administration reverses USDA office closures in California

Yahoo

2 days ago

The Trump administration has reversed its decision to shutter eight California outposts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to a letter from agency head Brooke Rollins.
The about-face came at the urging of a group of Democratic California lawmakers led by Sen. Adam Schiff, who decried plans from the the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency to close USDA offices in Bakerserfield, Blythe, Los Angeles, Madera, Mt. Shasta, Oxnard, Salinas, Woodland and Yreka.
"Closure of these offices would severely hamper USDA's ability to support farmers imperative to California's agricultural success," the lawmakers wrote in a May 14 letter addressed to Rollins and Stephen Ehikian, acting administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration.
The original closure plans came amid sweeping layoffs and lease terminations at government agencies across the country led by Elon Musk's DOGE team — including nearly two dozen California offices related to science, agriculture and the environment. Musk has since stepped down.
The Trump administration said the terminations would provide considerable cost savings for the American people.
The USDA offices slated for closure included outposts of the Farm Services Agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, which had a combined annual lease cost of $809,000, according to the DOGE database.
Read more: Musk team targets nearly two dozen environmental offices for closure in California
In their letter, the lawmakers said farmers rely on USDA field offices for loans, grants, technical assistance, and in-person meetings with USDA staff, and that "closing these vital centers will make it more difficult for farmers to access the essential resources farmers must be able to rely on."
They noted California is the nation's largest agricultural state, and that its farms received nearly $59.4 billion in cash receipts for their output in 2023 alone.
The closures would put additional burdens on farmers "already navigating an uncertain agricultural economy" due to funding freezes, tariffs and other challenges, according to the lawmakers, who also included Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), Jim Costa (D-Fresno), Adam Gray (D-Merced), Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley Village), Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Anglees) and Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose).
In her May 30 response, Rollins said she has directed the GSA to rescind the termination notices for eight of the nine offices, save for the one in Mt. Shasta. According to the DOGE database, that office was a 536-square-foot outpost of the U.S. Forest Service with an annual lease cost of $12,000.
"USDA is still in discussions with GSA concerning the viability of continuing that lease or if the services provided out of that office can be performed in a more suitable location," Rollins wrote.
She added that the agency "supports optimizing building capacity and consolidating underutilized offices to reduce inefficiencies, while continuing to prioritize frontline services for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities."
Schiff cheered the decision.
"I would like to thank Secretary Rollins for engaging with us to ensure that Californians have access to these crucial services," he said in a statement. "I will keep pushing the administration to ensure that critical USDA offices in California continue to operate without interruption."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.