No Plans to Close Any FSA Offices, Ag Sec Rollins Says

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Leah Douglas reported that “U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at a Senate hearing on Tuesday defended downsizing the USDA and potential cuts to international food aid programs, but said the agency does not plan to close any of its 4,500 offices that serve farmers.”

“The USDA has lost more than 15,000 staff to financial incentive programs offered by the administration of President Donald Trump as part of his effort with billionaire ally Elon Musk to shrink the size of the federal workforce,” Douglas reported. “About 1,100 of those leaving USDA worked at the Farm Services Agency, which administers farm loans and provides technical support to farmers at its locations around the country, according to a USDA briefing for Congressional staff. Two-thirds of those were employees working at the county level.”

“Testifying before the agriculture subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Rollins said, ‘it is not in our plan’ to close any FSA offices,” Douglas reported. “She said USDA is working to develop online technical assistance that may mean less reliance on in-person services in the future. Trump’s budget would cut $358 million from the FSA, and suggested that some of its locations are ‘underutilized, resulting in waste.'”

“Rollins said the agency is recruiting to rehire staff to critical roles that were vacated, including for FSA county offices, wildland firefighters in the U.S. Forest Service, and staff at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which handles animal disease outbreaks like bird flu,” Douglas reported. “Several hundred requests to enroll in the financial incentive for voluntary departures program were declined because the staff roles were too important, she said. ‘Have we done it perfectly? No,’ she said of the staff moves.”

Disaster Aid Applications to Open Soon

Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported that “USDA will open a portal before the end of the month for farmers to apply for nearly $21 billion in aid for dealing with natural disasters over the past two years, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told senators on Tuesday.”

“Rollins repeatedly told lawmakers USDA will announce applications for disaster aid, ‘in the coming weeks, by the end of May,'” Clayton reported. “Passed quickly after Hurricane Helene hit last fall, the disaster aid package covers an array of natural disasters that hit agriculture in 2023 and 2024. Among the funds, $2 billion was set aside specifically for livestock producers. Assistance from the package could go to states in the form of block grants as well as direct compensation to farmers.”

“Rollins also told the subcommittee USDA has moved almost $8 billion under the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) since opening the program in late March,” Clayton reported. “A USDA dashboard for the program shows $7.3 billion has been paid to more than 472,000 farmers thus far.”

USDA Reorganization Plan Expected Next Week

Agri-Pulse’s Lydia Johnson and Philip Brasher reported that “Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday the department will unveil its reorganization plan next week and it won’t be as ‘drastic’ as many have feared.”

“Speaking to members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, Rollins confirmed that about 15,000 USDA employees had taken buyouts since President Donald Trump took office but said the department normally loses about 8,000 to 10,000 annually through normal attrition,” Johnson and Brasher reported. “‘So, while 15,000, you know, is blasting across a lot of headlines right now, at the end of the day through the [Deferred Resignation Program], hopefully the goal is that it isn’t too much of a difference,’ she said.”

“She also reiterated that the reorganization plan would likely shrink the department’s footprint in the nation’s capital but didn’t say by how much,” Johnson and Brasher reported. “‘We are right-sizing. We are, quote, ‘downsizing.’ But I don’t think it is as drastic, perhaps, as a lot of people are looking at it,’ she said. She stressed that the department was preserving Farm Service Agency field staff and Forest Service wildland firefighters.”