USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden: Here’s How Regional Hubs Will Work

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A sweeping reorganization that brings a substantial reduction in personnel and shift in geographical footprint is underway at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one that could reshape the direction of the agency.

USDA Deputy Secretary Judge Stephen Vaden told American Farmland Owner from his office in Washington, D.C. that the department’s plan to consolidate its Washington, D.C., presence and establish five regional hubs across the country will bring services and staff closer to the people and places USDA is charged with serving.

Proposed regional USDA hubs:

1.      Raleigh, North Carolina

2.      Kansas City, Missouri

3.      Indianapolis, Indiana

4.      Fort Collins, Colorado

5.      Salt Lake City, Utah

“…the Secretary (Brooke Rollins) has delegated to me the authority and the ability to run her reorganization plan. And so, that is taking up quite a bit of my time as we prepare to shrink our footprint here in Washington, D.C. and expand the number of people that we have across the country,” Vaden explained.

He continued, “…there’s not a lot of rural here in Washington, D.C. We serve rural America, and so we need to have nearly all of our people out closer to rural America than they’re going to be here in the District of Columbia.”

Judge Stephen Vaden bio:

• Deputy Secretary – U.S. Department of Agriculture

• Native – Union City, Tennessee

• Former judge – U.S. Court of International Trade

• Former General Counsel – U.S. Department of Agriculture

Reducing USDA’s Presence in Washington, D.C.

USDA’s goal is to reduce its Washington workforce to about 2,000 employees. The department currently occupies massive office buildings that were designed for far more people than they now hold. One such building, Vaden noted, has never exceeded 40% occupancy and carries an estimated $1 billion in deferred maintenance.

From a business standpoint, he argued, this is untenable. Vaden maintains that private companies would long ago have sold such an asset and redeployed the capital elsewhere, and that is what USDA plans to do.

Cost of living is another major driver. Washington, D.C., now ranks among the most expensive cities in the country, trailing places like New York and San Francisco. That reality affects both taxpayers and employees.

“The government cannot afford, nor would it be wise, for us to pay six-figure salaries to everybody. The taxpayer wouldn’t stand for that,” Vaden said.

He emphasized that government salaries stretch much further in regional locations where employees can realistically aspire to “home ownership. And a family, and a yard.”

Rural Connections to USDA Services

For rural landowners, this focus on long-term workforce stability matters. USDA relies on institutional knowledge—people who spend 15, 20, or even more years building expertise in agriculture, conservation, and rural development.

High turnover undermines that mission. Vaden illustrated the point with an example: a recently recorded retirement video for an employee who served USDA for 64 years, working in research, education, and economics and playing a key role in eradicating the boll weevil.

 That employee, Vaden noted, worked in Mississippi—not Washington. “We want more people like that gentleman,” he said, underscoring why location matters for retaining talent.

The five regional hubs are designed with both efficiency and specialization in mind. Not every USDA agency will be present at every hub, Vaden said. Geography will guide assignments.

Western hubs, for example, will host more Forest Service leadership, reflecting the reality that most national forest lands lie west of the Mississippi River. “Why shouldn’t the Forest Service be closer to the land it manages?” Vaden asked.

Just as important, these hubs will not require massive new spending, he said. USDA already leases or owns office space in the selected locations, much of it underused.

Vaden said that by relocating employees from aging, half-empty D.C. buildings into “newer, nicer spaces for which we’re already paying,” the department expects to raise utilization rates to 80–100% while shedding billions of dollars in long-term maintenance liabilities.

“It just makes good business sense,” Vaden said.

USDA Future Service 

For farmers and farmland owners who depend on USDA programs, the biggest question is service. Will fewer people and fewer D.C.-based offices mean slower responses or reduced support?

Vaden was emphatic that the answer is no. The county office structure—the front line for Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Rural Development programs—will remain intact.

“This reorganization plan will not affect any county office,” he said.

Those offices will stay where they are, serving producers directly. In fact, county staff may gain faster access to decision-makers through nearby regional hubs rather than having to route issues through Washington, he said.

Ultimately, the reorganization reflects a philosophical shift as much as an administrative one. Vaden spoke candidly about the cultural divide between large coastal cities and rural America, and how staying connected to his home in northwest Tennessee helps him avoid the “bubble” that can distort policy decisions.

That perspective underpins the entire plan: a USDA that looks less like a Washington bureaucracy and more like a distributed, field-oriented partner for rural America.

USDA Deputy Secretary Judge Stephen Vaden will be a featured speaker at the Land Investment Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 13, 2026.

American Farmland Owner is a media sponsor of the Land Investment Expo.