Farmer Leaders Rebuke USDA Over FSA County Staffing Levels

The National Association of Farmer Elected Committees said FSA offices "are critically understaffed," yet USDA officials have publicly denied those concerns.

Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden at last month's Farm Progress Show rejected the notion FSA offices are short on staff.  Vaden said USDA would not be asking for temporary or permanent FSA staffing levels.  Leaders at FSA in recent meetings have indicated staffing levels of county office employees are now under 6,000, as compared to several thousand more, just a few years ago.

Staff Find It Difficult To Perform Some Tasks

"The word we are consistently hearing is that our county office staffs are critically understaffed", said Jim Zumbrink, President of NAFEC, and a grain and turkey farmer from Ohio. "Staff will find it very difficult to perform the complex work of managing disaster programs and ongoing programs, with the speed agriculture producers in America, both expect and desperately need."

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