The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will close nearly 260 offices nationwide as part of an effort to cut costs and streamline operations, the agency announced yesterday.
The agency’s overall goal is to trim $150 million from its $145 billion annual budget, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. Roughly $90 million has already been saved through the reduction of expenditures on travel and supplies. The closures, which affect the Washington headquarters, labs and facilities in 46 states, and seven foreign offices, are expected to save an additional $60 million.
The USDA’s workload is at record highs, and it has less money and fewer people to do the work, Vilsack told reporters yesterday. Because 7,000 USDA employees took early retirements over the past year, widespread layoffs are not anticipated, he said.
The USDA manages programs that provide emergency aid to farmers, grants for rural development, food assistance programs for the poor, agricultural research and food safety inspection.
Cuts to the USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service have some people worried about how the safety of the nation’s food supply will be affected. But, Elisabeth Hagen, undersecretary for food safety, said the closures would not reduce the number of inspectors or the amount inspection work.
“There will be no reduction in inspection presence at slaughter and processing facilities and no risk for consumers,” Hagen said. “Not only do we have a statutory obligation to be in every facility, we have an unwavering commitment to food safety,” she added. “We will still be on the job, in every facility, every day.”
The cuts are as follows:
- Farm Service Agency (FSA): Consolidate 131 county offices in 32 states; more than 2,100 FSA offices remain throughout the United States
- Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS): Close 2 country offices; more than 95 FAS offices remain throughout the world
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS): Close 15 APHIS offices in 11 states and 5 APHIS offices in 5 foreign countries; more than 560 APHIS offices remain throughout the United States and 55 remain throughout the world
- Rural Development (RD): Close 43 area and sub offices in 17 states and U.S. territories; approximately 450 RD offices remain throughout the United States
- Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS): Close 24 soil survey offices in 21 states; more than 2,800 NRCS offices remain throughout the United States
- Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS): Close 5 district offices in 5 states; 10 district offices remain throughout the United States
- Agricultural Research Service (ARS): Close 12 programs at 10 locations; more than 240 programs remain throughout the United States
- Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNCS): Close 31 field offices in 28 states; 32 FNCS offices will remain throughout the United States
- Consolidate more than 700 cell phone plans into about 10
- Standardize civil rights training and purchases of cyber security products; and
- Ensure more efficient and effective service to our employees by moving toward more centralized civil rights, human resource, procurement, and property management functions, creating millions of dollars in efficiencies without sacrificing the quality of our work.
