https://www.wired.com/story/usda-layoffs-throw-climate-and-crop-projects-into-chaos/ USDA Layoffs Derail Projects Benefiting American Farmers The purge could also indirectly hit farmers in red states, who are the main beneficiaries of proposals such as EQIP. “It was necessary research to preserve our agricultural lands and fight climate change,” says one ARS employee who was fired last week after serving more than two years of their three-year-long probation. “Compared to the rest of the government, ARS is tiny,” they say. “But we were able to get a lot done with relatively little money.” On her first full day in office, US secretary of agriculture Brooke Rollins told USDA staffers gathered at its headquarters in Washington that she supported the Department of Government Efficiency’s attempt to optimize the USDA workforce. “I welcome DOGE’s efforts at USDA, because we know that its work makes us better, stronger, faster, and more efficient,” she told the gathering. But Bass warns that blanket firing of USDA employees is hardly a pathway toward a more efficient agency. “This approach of wide-swath firings throws the USDA and affiliated agricultural research enterprise into a world of uncertainty,” she says. “Projects that cannot be seen out to the end, cannot result in a peer-reviewed research paper or technical expertise being provided, are a waste of taxpayer dollars.”
