Extensive layoffs According to former and current employees of the agency, the Department of Agriculture scientists department conducted important research on the chaos. Scientists who have been laid off are working to improve crops, defend against pests and diseases, and understand the climate impacts of agricultural practices. Experts warn that layoffs could also undermine the billions of taxpayer funds paid to farmers.
The USDA layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s massive sacks of federal employees, mainly targeting people on probation before obtaining full-time status, and for USDA scientists, it can be up to three years. The agency has not released exact shooting numbers, but it is estimated that they include hundreds of employees and reports from key scientific sub-institutions 3,400 employees in the Forest Service.
Employees were told they were fired in a blanket email sent on February 13 and saw it from Wired. “Based on your performance, the agency found that you have not proved that your further employment at the agency will be in the public interest,” the email said.
A layoff employee described the weeks before the shooting as “chaotic” as USDA stopped (in response from Trump administration), and then undoubtedly (respond to court orders) work related to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – landmark 2022 laws passed by President Joe Biden, these laws A large amount of federal funding has been put on hold for climate policy. “It’s just pause, unbutton, pause, dehydration. After these four to five working days, I was thinking, I can’t actually do anything,” said the former employee who worked on the IRA linking program, asking to remain anonymous. to protect them from retribution.
IRA provides USDA with $300 million to help quantify carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. The money is intended to support the $8.45 billion farmer subsidy authorized by the IRA for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), which encourages farmers to accept. Practice with potential environmental benefitssuch as covering cropping and better waste storage. The Trump administration suspended at least one contracted agricultural project funded by EQIP, Reuters report.
Emily Bass, deputy director of federal policy, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, the $300 million is used to build an agricultural greenhouse gas network that can monitor The effectiveness of various protection practices funded by EQIP and other multi-billion dollar protection programs. Breakthrough Institute’s Center for Environmental Research Agriculture. The work was conducted by the National Agency for Resources Protection (NRCS) and the Agency for Agricultural Research Services (ARS), two scientific sub-agents who were hit hard in federal layoffs.
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“It’s a ton of taxpayers’ dollars, the quantitative work of ARS and NRCS is an important part of measuring the actual impact of these programs on reducing emissions,” Bass said. “Stop midway or hamstring efforts are already costing a lot,” he said. Waste of resources.”
An incumbent ARS scientist spoke with the link anonymously because they had no right to speak with the press, claiming that at their unit, nearly 40% of scientists were fired along with multiple support staff. Many of their unit’s projects are now in a state of chaos, including work already planned for a five-year cycle that requires close monitoring of plant specimens, the scientist said. “In the short term, we can keep the material alive, but if we don’t have anyone to participate in the project, we don’t have to do it indefinitely.”
