Jonah Ulmer was the federal government’s foremost authority on tiny invasive pests that most Americans have never heard of — but which can decimate crops across the U.S.
Known as thrips and psyllids, the gnat-sized insects often sneak into the country on imported flowers and produce — and it was the job of Ulmer and his colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to identify and quarantine highly destructive species that appear on perishable goods during the inspection process required at U.S. ports of entry.
But Ulmer was abruptly fired last month — swept up in the Trump administration’s frenzied and turbulent efforts to drastically shrink the federal workforce. He’s one of at least 145 workers in plant protection alone who were terminated, including entomologists, soil conservationists and tree climbers who hunt for pests, according to a list of terminated job titles obtained by NBC News.
Overall, nearly 6,000 probationary workers — new employees who’d been on the job less than a year or workers who’d been promoted — were eliminated from USDA, including other highly trained scientists and technical staff stationed across the country to help customs officers screen imported items, identifying and quarantining those infested with dangerous pests.
As the national taxonomist for thrips and psyllids, Ulmer knew there wasn’t a single person left at the agency with the expertise that he had — and he knows the consequences of making a mistake can be dire.
“You can’t ever be wrong. You always have to be right,” Ulmer told NBC News. “The one that you identify as a nonquarantine pest, and it comes in the country and wreaks havoc? The impacts of that could be millions or billions of dollars in economic damage.”
A court this week ordered USDA to temporarily reinstate for at least 45 days probationary employees whom it fired, but it’s not clear when they’re going back to work — or for how long, especially since President Donald Trump has made his intention to gut the federal workforce very clear.
The USDA did not respond to requests for comment. But the terminations have dealt a serious blow to the federal inspection process required for imported food, plants and other organic matter — a program that the agency calls “essential” to preventing infestations and disease outbreaks from crippling America’s trillion-dollar agricultural economy.
The cutbacks could have severe, sweeping economic consequences for American farmers and consumers alike. Though USDA inspections — which are conducted jointly with U.S. Customs and Border Protection — are continuing at ports of entry, the loss of both staff and expertise raises the risk that harmful pests and diseases will slip into the U.S. unnoticed, industry representatives and agriculture experts said.
“Maybe a year from that we can’t grow peppers or cucumbers in the U.S. because we have these pests,” said Christine Boldt, executive vice president of AFIA, a trade group that represents flower importers. “People don’t realize that those threats don’t happen overnight — they happen over time.”
So far, Boldt says that she’s received assurances from USDA and CBP officials that inspection staffing in Miami — the country’s biggest entry point for cut flower imports — hasn’t been altered. “But they say afterwards, ‘Every day that could change,’” she said.
The most significant pest that Ulmer handled was the Asian citrus psyllid. Only 3 to 4 millimeters long, the insect carries a plant disease that has devastated Florida’s iconic citrus industry. Another type of invasive pest known as the chilli thrip loves to devour strawberries, cotton and pepper plants, and it is notoriously difficult to contain once it invades a crop. “They develop pesticide resistance really rapidly,” Ulmer said. “So the best option is prevention and quarantine.”
Unfamiliar species also show up all the time, prompting Ulmer and his colleagues to comb through the vast Smithsonian insect collection or rush to their labs to perform dissections on tiny specimens. Last year in California, citrus growers were hit by new species of invasive fruit flies that reproduce inside the pulpy flesh, rendering the fruit inedible.
“Your fruit has to be stripped and destroyed — it’s a significant financial impact,” said Casey Creamer, president and CEO of California Citrus Mutual, a trade group for citrus growers, who stressed the importance of maintaining USDA staffing and expertise to protect the industry. “Nobody wants to open up a piece of citrus fruit and find larvae.”
The USDA also fired one of the federal government’s only experts in invasive land snails and slugs, which can be enormously detrimental to crops.
“They will indiscriminately eat most things — soybean, corn, or specialty crops like strawberries and blueberries,” said Morgan Bullis, the snail and slug expert who lost her job as a national taxonomist last month. Slugs can also transmit diseases like rat lungworm to humans when they crawl over produce like lettuce.
Every single day, Ulmer and Bullis would flag dangerous pests that needed to be quarantined — and were specifically sent to their national lab because regional identifiers weren’t sure if the strange bug that fell out of a flower or slithered over a wooden pallet posed a true threat.
“When we had these first rumors about the probationary terminations, they told us not to worry, because we are so critical to the American economy, they couldn’t even believe that we would be hit,” a USDA official said, requesting anonymity out of fear of retribution.
The loss of agency expertise and staff also threatens to increase costs for importers because of inspection delays — and could ultimately raise prices of ordinary goods for U.S. consumers.
The USDA inspections are highly time sensitive, as the inspections must be completed before agricultural goods are allowed through. Fewer USDA pest experts and staff could mean inspection delays and thousands of dollars of additional storage, shipping and refrigeration fees for importers, according to Michael Lahar, manager of regulatory affairs for A.N. Deringer, a U.S. customs broker.
“They’re going to do the best they can, but it’s going to result in slowdowns. Slowdowns are going to result in extra costs. Extra costs are going to trickle down to the average American,” Lahar said. “So when you go into the supermarket, and you want to buy a dozen roses for your sweetheart to bring home, they’re going to be more expensive.”
Ulmer started at the USDA in October, replacing a national expert who had been at the agency for more than 16 years before retiring.
He was stationed at his laboratory on Valentine’s Day — one of the busiest times of the year given the influx of cut flowers — when he was abruptly notified that he was being terminated. He was in the midst of categorizing a new type of destructive psyllid that had just started showing up at U.S. ports on exotic flowers shipped from southern Africa.
While workers were told they were fired for “performance” issues, Ulmer and many other workers said that they had received praise for their work and never had performance-related complaints. And since their division is largely funded through their user fees that importers pay, staff cuts don’t mean big savings for taxpayers.
Ulmer is still waiting to receive any word about if or when he will be reinstated at the USDA, and he has no expectation that he’ll still have a job after the 45-day period is over.
But right now, he is eager to get back to his lab and start working through the big pile of insect identifications that he knows will be waiting for him.
“The insects don’t care what the current political environment is,” he said. “They’re just going to keep coming.”