Staff Attrition Occurring As Mission Expands
By OrganicEye Executive Director Mark Kastel
Though the full consequences are as yet unknown, the impacts of the highly aggressive paring back of the federal workforce could potentially have a material impact on the ability of the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) to carry out its congressional mandate.
OrganicEye’s Executive Director Mark Kastel has spoken to a number of current and former NOP staff members and conveyed the following report:
“According to sources I have spoken to, on the condition of anonymity, in addition to some preplanned retirements, a few staff members are known to have taken the ‘fork in the road’ buyout option that was offered by Elon Musk. However, the totals were unknown to anyone I interviewed.”
Additionally, with approximately three-quarters of NOP staff working remotely prior to President Trump’s election, the impact of the edict to “return to the office” is also unknown.
DC area staff members have already returned to the office (and resumed the long commutes from their homes in communities that are affordable at their pay level).
However, there are many NOP staff located around the country. When I asked whether they would have to sell their $250,000 homes in rural Wisconsin to relocate to Washington, where homes in suburban areas are likely to run in the $400,000 to $600,000 range (forget about affording a house in DC proper), no one could really tell me. I was told that, officially, USDA leadership were yet to answer that question.
To illustrate what is at stake, in my county seat of Viroqua, Wisconsin, there are veteran NOP staff members. Will they be allowed to work at the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in Viroqua? Or will they be ordered to work at the NOP headquarters in Washington, DC? Obviously, if the latter is the only option, we are going to lose a lot of knowledgeable staff in the reorganization process.
I believe total NOP employment, taking into consideration open positions, is approximately 80-85 employees.
In addition to these impacts on staffing, it was announced that a number of Agricultural Marketing Service Deputy Administrators would be transferred laterally. This included long-time NOP chief Dr. Jennifer Tucker. She was replaced with 18-year USDA veteran Christopher Purdy, most recently of the Specialty Crops program, who I assume we all wish well in his quick study to come up to speed to lead an organization in transition.