USDA says it will close 259 offices to save $150M
By MICHAEL J. CRUMB
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will close 259 domestic offices, labs and other facilities as part of an effort to save $150 million per year, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday.
While the closures and other cost-cutting steps will affect the USDA headquarters in Washington and operations in 46 states, the savings will be relatively small in the context of the agency's $145 billion budget.
The closures follow a review of USDA operations done as part of the Obama administration's efforts to cut waste, Vilsack said.
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"We must innovate, modernize and be better stewards of the taxpayers' dollars," he said in a prepared statement released before his spoke to the American Farm Bureau Federation in Honolulu.
The USDA did not immediately provide details on which offices would be closed or whether employees would be laid off, but Andrew Lorenz, deputy district manager for USDA's food safety and inspection office in Minneapolis, estimated 12 to 14 of the 16 people in his office would lose their jobs when it closed.
He said he was surprised the USDA was shutting down so many offices that handle food inspections in one region, with additional closures in Madison, Wis., and Lawrence, Kan.
"They wiped out the entire Midwest," Lorenz said.
Food safety offices in Chicago and Des Moines remain open. An outline given to The Associated Press before Vilsack's speech said many offices targeted for closure had few employees or were near others.
Some closures had already been announced. The USDA said last year it would shut down 10 agricultural research stations, including the only one in Alaska, as the Obama administration looked to cut $42 million from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service budget.
In Alaska, researchers had been looking for ways to use the vast waste generated by the largest wild fishery in the nation to make everything from gel caps for pills to fish meal for livestock feed. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported last month that the scientists would transfer elsewhere by March, ending that work.
The USDA manages a wide array of programs, from emergency aid for farmers to grants for rural development and food assistance programs for the poor.
Along with the Agricultural Research and Food Safety services, seven other departments will be affected by closures, including the Farm Service Agency and Rural Development. Seven foreign offices will be closed.
Kevin Ross, 31, a sixth-generation farmer in Iowa, expressed concern about how services would be affected. Farmers could drop out of programs if they have to travel long distances, he said.
"Access to agencies is a big deal, especially in rural areas," said Ross, who grows 400 acres of corn on his farm near Minden. "It's easy to say it looks like great cost savings, but I hope they are careful and strategic in their decisions."
But Bruce Babcock, a farm economist at Iowa State University and director of the school's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, said consolidation was a long time coming, given that advances in technology made it possible to file applications and do other tasks over the phone or online.
He said he's more concerned about the USDA's ability to maintain programs that deal with disease prevention.
"The capability to collect data and do the behind the scenes activities that really help U.S. agriculture stay safe, that should be concerning," Babcock said.
Colin Woodall, a spokesman for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which represents more than 147,000 ranchers nationwide, applauded the USDA for trying to save taxpayers' money in tight economic times, but reserved further comment until his group understands the extent of the consolidation.
"There are some drawbacks," Woodall said Monday evening. "We can't say this is all great news because some offices will be closed. We have to make sure we have the process in place to keep food safe."
Officials in the affected departments either didn't return messages requesting comment or referred questions back to the main USDA spokeswoman, who did not immediately provide more details.
Vilsack said the proposed cuts, along with other cost-saving measures such as consolidating cellphone plans, will allow the USDA to continue making investments that have helped U.S. agriculture experience its most productive period in history.
"As we continue to invest in rural communities across the country, USDA has heard from producers about reducing red tape and the need to modernize its services," Vilsack said. "Today we are answering that challenge by announcing a series of efforts to help us continue to streamline operations, make the best use of taxpayer resources and provide the best possible service to the American people."
— — — Associated Press writers Doug Glass in Minneapolis, Dan Joling in Anchorage, Alaska, and Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Okla., contributed to this report. (Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
