White House Budget Plan Proposes Local FSA, NRCS Office Closures

by Chris Clayton, DTN

DTN
A report Tuesday citing a White House document proposes dramatically cutting local offices around the country that house Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Omaha — USDA is planning to severely slash its county Service Center offices around the country that house local staff for the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, potentially consolidating county staff into state committees, according to a report published Tuesday.

The website Government Executive, which covers the federal workforce, reported Tuesday that White House documents from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposes to “severely scale back or outright eliminate funding for many programs across the Agriculture Department.”

Government Executive reported the “passback” document from OMB proposes cutting fiscal 2026 funding levels to “gut research and conservation efforts, trim program budgets nearly across the board and cut staff. OMB in the document cited “many difficult decisions” that “were necessary” to reach the proposed spending level, the report stated.

Pointing to the savings by cutting USDA staff, the OMB document calls for “protecting the American people by deconstructing a wasteful and weaponized bureaucracy,” Government Executive reported.

As DTN has reported, USDA leadership has warned its 100,000-plus employees that major staff cuts are coming, offices will be closed, and people will be forced to relocate if they want to keep their jobs. USDA currently is sorting through employees who submitted their requests for a Deferred Resignation Program that would pay them potentially through the end of September but terminate their employment.

Government Executive cites as many as 16,000 employees have accepted those deferred resignation offers.

The passback document, which is considered “predecisional” and subject to change, assumes the cost savings associated with USDA’s RIF and reorganization plan, Government Executive reported. Passbacks serve as OMB’s response to agencies’ individual budget submissions. The Congressional Research Service has noted agencies can appeal certain programmatic decisions to OMB, but the documents generally serve as the White House office’s final decision, the report stated.

To read the entire report click here.