Raleigh to become home of USDA research hub

On April 30, the US Department of Agriculture announced that Raleigh would become home to the USDA’s research hub, as part of a decentralization plan announced during the summer of 2025.

This falls under the Food and Nutrition Administration’s (FNA) announcement, according to a USDA press release. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the USDA restructuring on July 24, 2025. Raleigh was one of five hub locations across the US to which the USDA would be relocated.

“On my first day leading the People’s Department, I shared several commitments to our state, tribal, territory, and local government partners, including prioritizing customer service and infusing each nutrition program with new energy and vision,” said Rollins, in a press release. “This reorganization is designed with those commitments in mind. I look forward to working with our partners as we continue to nourish children and families in need through nutrition programs that not only are provided by America’s farm families, but also programs that pave a pathway to better health and economic stability.”

The five hubs will be: 

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• Indianapolis, IN: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) 
• Dallas, TX: the Child Nutrition Programs
• Kansas City, MO: the Supplemental Nutrition and Safety Programs 
• Raleigh, NC: research programs
• Denver, CO: site for Emergency Management and Continuity of Operations

“North Carolina has a strong, successful, and collaborative history of agricultural research in cooperation with our land grant universities, so we welcome news that USDA intends to move some of its agricultural research projects to Raleigh as part of its reorganization process,” Steve Troxler, North Carolina’s Agriculture commissioner, told the Carolina Journal. “I believe agriculture research will be a key in increasing ag production and efficiency that will be needed to meet future food and fiber needs. While we don’t have any additional details, I know we have outstanding research partners in our state.”

The purpose of the decentralization plan is to bring the USDA closer to the people it supports and to lower the cost of living for government employees. Raleigh has been chosen as one of those five locations, with a federal locality rate of 22.24%. 

Some changes to the hub locations seem to have been made, as last summer the remaining four hub locations were reported to be: Kansas City, Missouri, at 18.97%; Indianapolis, Indiana, at 18.15%; Fort Collins, Colorado, at 30.52%, and Salt Lake City, Utah, at 17.06%, according to a USDA press release. 

“This reorganization is long overdue,” said USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen A. Vaden. “The Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services mission area has not had a Senate-confirmed Under Secretary in nearly two decades, and the shift to the Food and Nutrition Administration will better align with other benefit programs administered across the federal government. This reorganization also reduces duplicative management and complexity within the agency, better prioritizes State service and participant needs, and expands the Department’s presence to fight fraud, waste, and abuse.”

Vaden took a personal tour of one of the facilities with Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell during a visit to the city of Oaks last September.  

“It makes sense to disperse USDA’s facilities and its people across the country,” Jon Sanders, director of the Center for Food Power and Life at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. “Agriculture, especially, is about getting back to the roots. Placing the agricultural department among the nation’s major agricultural centers, rather than the seat of politics, seems appropriate. Raleigh is a great choice for the USDA research hub, especially given its proximity to NC State University and the Research Triangle.”

A small footprint, including the FNA administrator, will remain in Washington, DC, to handle Congress, interagency work, policy coordination, and regulatory work. Decentralization will realign the USDA’s focus to the states that administer the USDA nutrition programs, the taxpayers who fund them, and the households that benefit from them. 

“Perhaps more federal agencies should be told to get out of the stifling, politics-heavy atmosphere of Washington and touch grass,” concluded Sanders.

“Raleigh to become home of USDA research hub” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.