—story by Kate Prengaman and Ross Courtney

On Feb. 13, the Trump administration began serious cutbacks to the federal workforce, terminating thousands of recently hired employees across numerous agencies, including scientists and technicians working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture on tree fruit and grape research projects. 

The action was led by the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is an administration initiative and not a formal department. No official count of fired employees was released. The new administration also froze USDA grant funding, including cost-share contracts with growers.

Those fired include dozens of scientists and support staff, by Good Fruit Grower’s count, working on research priorities for the tree fruit and wine grape industries, including X disease, codling moth, postharvest storage, rootstock breeding, precision viticulture and smoke taint of wine grapes. But as this issue went to press at the end of February, we learned that at least a few positions had been reinstated. 

The Northwest Horticultural Council, which advocates for the tree fruit industry on federal issues, is working with other impacted commodity groups to share concerns about lost capacity with new agency leadership and elected officials, said Mark Powers, NHC president. 

“This is blanketed across all federal government agencies, and I don’t think we know the full extent yet. We do know today that this affects research positions in Wenatchee and Wapato and Hood River where people work on projects of interest to our industry,” he said. 

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins was confirmed Feb. 13 and, on Feb. 14, she issued a statement in support of the “workforce optimization” at the USDA. 

“I welcome DOGE’s efforts at USDA because we know that its work makes us better, stronger, faster and more efficient,” Rollins said. 

U.S. representatives on the House Committee on Agriculture agree the federal government needs to cut spending, said U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., when Good Fruit Grower spoke with him on Feb. 18 in Yakima, Washington. However, he and his colleagues would prefer a more precise approach than across-the-board layoffs, and he said they were trying to convince the Trump administration to reinstate some of the “critical” employees.

Scientists whose employment was terminated received a mass email that states: “The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,” according to a copy shared with Good Fruit Grower and reported in other news outlets. 

That determination seems suspect, said Julie Tarara, a former USDA scientist who now works as a viticulturist for Results Partners, a vineyard management company. She spoke specifically about the termination of Jake Schrader, the recently hired precision viticulture specialist in Prosser, Washington; she and other industry members spent five years lobbying for the creation of the position and finding the right person to hire.

“It’s a tremendous amount of time, effort and money to get folks set up to run a research program,” she said.  “I don’t know if it’s effective, but our only option is to get on our horn and flood Congress with our concerns.”

Schrader is one of the scientists whose position was reinstated a week later.