Farm Bureau on USDA Layoffs, Office Closures, Consolidations

Layoffs, workforce reductions and office consolidations at Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Rural Development Offices are sparking major conversations across the ag industry. Dave Samuelson, senior director of government affairs with the American Farm Bureau Federation weighs in on what these changes could mean for farmers on the ground.

“When you're in these meetings with our states, one of the first issues they'll bring up is local offices. Will my local office stay open? How will it be staff? Will there be enough people? Where is one person going to have to rotate among multiple counties? You know, what kind of service will I get? How far we have to travel? They really do want those local offices to be open, be accessible, be able there to assist farmers and all the things that they do, whether it's a Farm Service Agency, NRCS, there's talks of consolidation. There's all kinds of different talks about how to achieve efficiencies.”

Samuelson says farmers are talking to their federal representatives and senators about this, and even making visits to lawmakers at the state level.

“What can we do to affect savings but also keep the programs the farmers want, farmers need that we lobby for to make sure they happen, make sure we have adequate funding for that the delivery system is still efficient and effective out there in the countryside, which usually comes down to making sure our local offices stay open and functional.”