U.S. gene banks, key to new crops, hobbled by Trump job cuts
science
2025.02.24
Science has learned that USDA is reinstating Neha Kothari as leader of the department’s national program on plant genetic resources. Kothari joins several other top-tier government scientists whose firings have been reversed, but so far there is no indication that USDA has reinstated other fired germplasm system staff. Academic leaders and representatives from the agricultural industry had criticized Kothari’s dismissal.
A science-driven effort to better manage the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) “gene banks,” launched shortly before President Donald Trump took office, is now in tatters, a victim of his assault on the federal workforce.
Plant breeder Neha Kothari was hired in October 2024 to streamline and improve the department’s vast collections of seeds and living crops that are key to developing improved varieties. But on 13 February she, like tens of thousands of other recent hires across the government still in probationary status, was dismissed from her job.
The entire gene bank network felt the chainsaw wielded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. About 30 employees—10% of its total staff—were terminated, according to an informal survey by some retired USDA scientists. An additional 10 vacant positions have been frozen or rescinded, and a similar number took Musk’s offer last month to resign immediately but remain on the federal payroll through September.
Science has learned that USDA is reinstating Neha Kothari as leader of the department’s national program on plant genetic resources. Kothari joins several other top-tier government scientists whose firings have been reversed, but so far there is no indication that USDA has reinstated other fired germplasm system staff. Academic leaders and representatives from the agricultural industry had criticized Kothari’s dismissal.
A science-driven effort to better manage the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) “gene banks,” launched shortly before President Donald Trump took office, is now in tatters, a victim of his assault on the federal workforce.
Plant breeder Neha Kothari was hired in October 2024 to streamline and improve the department’s vast collections of seeds and living crops that are key to developing improved varieties. But on 13 February she, like tens of thousands of other recent hires across the government still in probationary status, was dismissed from her job.
The entire gene bank network felt the chainsaw wielded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. About 30 employees—10% of its total staff—were terminated, according to an informal survey by some retired USDA scientists. An additional 10 vacant positions have been frozen or rescinded, and a similar number took Musk’s offer last month to resign immediately but remain on the federal payroll through September.
Read more here.