Before he was suddenly fired last month, Derek Copeland worked as a trainer at the USDA’s National Dog Detection Training Center, preparing the Beagles and Labrador retrievers to sniff out invasive or vector plants and animals for animal bone diseases like swine flu. Copeland estimates that when 6,000 employees were let go of USDA in February, 6,000 employees lost about a fifth of their trainers and many other support staff as part of a government-wide purge organized by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called government efficiency (DOGE).
Before he received the notice of fire, Copeland had just trained the only dog stationed in Florida that could detect the giant African land snails in Florida, he says. “We have spotted and lantern fly dogs, Asian longhorn beetles,” he says, referring to two other non-native species. “I don’t think Americans understand how much crap people bring to the US.”
Dog trainers are just an example of the type of highly specialized USDA staff that has been removed from the station in recent weeks. The team dedicated to testing plants and food imports has been particularly hit by recent cuts, including plant protection and quarantine programs that have lost only hundreds of staff.
“It’s causing problems on the left and right,” says the current USDA worker who prefers other federal employees in the story. “It’s basically a skeleton crew,” he said that both they and their colleagues have advanced degrees and have been trained for years to protect the US food and agriculture supply chain from invasive pests. “It’s not something that’s easily replaced by artificial intelligence.”
“These aren’t your average people,” says Mike Lahar, regulatory issues manager at US customs broker Behemoth Deringer. “These were highly trained individuals, such as inspectors, entomologists and taxonomists.”
Lahar and other supply chain experts warn that losses could lead to food corruption while waiting at ports, leading to even higher grocery prices, along with the increased likelihood of potentially catastrophic invasive species entering the country. These risks are particularly severe at moments when the US grocery supply chain is already caught up in other business disruptions, such as the bird flu and President Trump’s new tariffs.
“The first fundamental thing that happens when we are testing less food is that some of the foods we don’t test will likely get worse,” says Joe Fudica, a veteran in the supply chain industry and CEO of software.
The USDA cuts are especially felt in coastal states where major shipping ports are located. Wired’s sources estimate that the US busiest Port of Los Angeles has lost about 35% of total plant protection and quarantine staff, and 60% of “smuggling and blocking” employees. The Port of Miami, which handles a large number of US plant imports, has lost about 35% of plant inspectors.
