In a press release by the National Association of Farmer Elected Committees (NAFEC), the group reports that USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices “are critically understaffed,” yet USDA officials have publicly denied those concerns.
“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.”
However, U.S. Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden at the Farm Progress Show in late August rejected the notion that 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.
CLICK HERE to read the full letter from NAFEC.
Source: The National Association of Farmer Elected Committees.
