2LT International News

WASHINGTON, D.C.: More than 15,000 workers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have accepted offers to leave their jobs in exchange for extra pay and benefits.

These offers were part of a plan by President Trump’s administration, which was supported by Elon Musk, to reduce the size of the federal government.

This number equals about 15 percent of all USDA employees.

In the first round of the program, held in February, nearly 3,900 workers signed up to leave. In the second round in April, over 11,300 more accepted the offer, bringing the total to just over 15,000. More may still leave because workers over 40 were given extra time to decide.

A USDA spokesperson confirmed the numbers and said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is trying to make the department more efficient. To keep important services running, the USDA has allowed hiring in 53 job categories, including firefighters, veterinarians, and food safety inspectors.

Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, over 260,000 federal employees have left their jobs—about 10 percent of the civilian federal workforce. Some were fired, some retired early, and many took buyouts.

Those leaving include 674 local staff who help farmers at the Farm Service Agency (FSA), 2,400 from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, 555 from the Food Safety Inspection Service, which checks meat, poultry, and eggs, and 1,377 from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which handles outbreaks like bird flu.

The USDA says frontline workers at the FSA will not be affected by future cuts. Many workers said they took the second round of offers because they were tired and unsure about whether they would be laid off later.