We’re Not Closing FSA Offices, Rollins Says

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee this week and defended downsizing the USDA and potential cuts to international food programs.  The secretary added that the Agriculture Department doesn’t plan to close any of its 4,500 Farm Service Agency offices that serve America’s farmers.

“It is not in our plans to close any FSA offices,” Rollins told Reuters. “USDA is working to develop online technical assistance that may mean less reliance on in-person services in the future.”

The president’s budget would cut $358 million from the FSA and suggested that some of its locations are underutilized, resulting in waste.  Rollins also said her agency is recruiting to rehire staff to critical roles that were vacated, including for the 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.

President Trump's budget also looks to eliminate the McGovern/Dole Food for Education Program, Food for Progress and Food for Peace food aid programs, which is intended to sent U.S. commodities abroad, but has come under fire from many in the farming community.

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