U.S. Cutting, Consolidating Farm Offices

Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, acting to implement part of the Administration’s goal of downsizing the federal government, announced plans Tuesday to close or consolidate 1,070 county field offices over the next five years.

Officials released a state-by-state breakdown showing that 31 of California’s 75 offices serving farmers would be closed. In the next few months, about 15% of the 1,070 are expected to be closed.

To accommodate the interests of 3,071 counties across the nation, the department has maintained 3,700 field offices, but “we can no longer justify offices where the farm population no longer exists,” Espy said.

At the same time, Espy told a news briefing that, by consolidating several functions within new “field service centers,” farmers and others will receive “one-stop service.”

Such centers will provide a single location for persons to inquire about USDA housing and community loan programs, farm credit, soil conservation, crop insurance and other programs.

At present, officials said, field offices may be in separate buildings in the same county, often miles apart, and each with its own staff and overhead costs. The downsizing will permit an eventual staff reduction of 11,000 employees and estimated savings of $3.6 billion, they said.

Espy said that some field offices in Georgia, for example, are so underused that they spend $5 to deliver each dollar of service. For its 159 counties, Georgia has 193 field offices, of which 101 will be closed. Southern states, in fact, where farming has declined dramatically, will take the biggest cuts.

The consolidation announced Tuesday does not affect nearly 7,000 department offices that handle such non-farm programs as forestry and nutrition. With a 1995 budget of $67 billion, the department has 110,000 full-time employees.

Espy said that the reductions are part of a bipartisan consolidation move that he began early last year to fulfill a task begun by his predecessor, Edward R. Madigan, who served under former President George Bush. He said that he expects his own successor to carry the program forward when he leaves government service Dec. 31.

Espy announced in October that he will resign by that date because of allegations being investigated by an independent counsel that he received favors from business interests regulated by the department. Espy has denied wrongdoing.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), outgoing chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said that the consolidation is long overdue and serves to implement bipartisan legislation signed last October by President Clinton. Leahy said that this should serve as a model for other federal departments and agencies.

“This is the first real reorganization of the Agriculture Department since the time of Franklin (D.) Roosevelt,” he said.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), the incoming Agriculture Committee chairman, also commended Espy on his plans, saying that “these reforms are an important example of how government can be more efficient and responsive to farmers and all citizens.”

Espy said that the department already had cut 7,000 positions over the last two years and would accomplish the remainder by 1999. Most reductions are being achieved through attrition and government-wide buyouts, meaning that “very few will be forced to lose their jobs,” he said.