“To me, there is a real friction here between those in the administration that simply want to diminish, destroy, and decimate the federal workforce and any sort of policy goal that is aimed at improving the lives of Americans and reducing costs for those who live in rural communities,” said Michael Amato, former USDA communications director. So far in Trump’s second term, the USDA has gotten rid of more than 15,000 federal employees, nearly a fifth of its workforce, straining bureau capacity even as the agency has culled billions of dollars in funding streams that, in the process, has buckled local and regional food systems. At least 10 percent of the federal employees who have left the USDA this year worked for Rural Development, the nation’s lead agency that fights rural poverty.

Ayurella Horn-Muller