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Concerns remain around USDA staffing reductions

The executive director of Invest in Our Land, a nonpartisan group aimed at ensuring farmers have adequate access to conservation support, says concerns continue to mount around staffing levels within the USDA.                           

Rebecca Bartels tells Brownfield, “Twenty-three percent of USDA NRCS staff were cut.”  She says, “We had farmers sending us pictures of their local NRCS offices with signs on the door that said closed today due to lack of staffing, and with cuts of that quantity, it’s almost impossible to engage with the programs.”

She says without adequate staffing, producers are less likely to implement conservation practices.

“That NRCS staff is responsible for walking the fields with farmers and ranchers and identifying what challenges they’re facing and then matching them with the practices that can help solve those challenges and the funding that can help them adopt the practices, so without the staff, the programs don’t really move,” she says.

Bartels says the organization is also concerned that the USDA’s planned reorganization will further reduce staffing levels and farmer access to conservation support.

AUDIO: Rebecca Bartels – Invest in Our Land