WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Farmers in some parts of the country will continue seeing fewer employees at their local USDA offices as the department works to rebuild a workforce depleted by last year's Deferred Resignation Program and constrained by tight budgets.

A senior USDA official acknowledged Wednesday that staffing shortages at local Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service offices are likely to persist, even as the department hopes to hire as many as 9,500 employees.

Richard Fordyce, USDA undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation, offered explanations and outlined next steps, while acknowledging the problem is unlikely to disappear anytime soon during a hearing before the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday.

"We did have some folks that did voluntarily take the DRP. It was a decision that they made that they felt was best for their families. In some cases, we do have county offices that don't have the staff in them," he said.

A report released in early June by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and Prospects LLC found that the Farm Service Agency (FSA) saw 650 county employees leave in 2025, an 8% cut in front-line staff. More than one-third of county offices lost employees, and 42 FSA offices started the year with no staff.

Also, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) lost 23% of its workforce, resulting in 144 county offices without staff, NSAC cited after obtaining the data through a Freedom of Information Act request.

During the hearing, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers said they expect significant NRCS staffing reductions in their states. Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., said North Carolina expects to lose about 75 employees, while Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., said USDA's fiscal 2027 budget shows Illinois' NRCS staffing dropping from 78 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to five.

However, the budget also shifts thousands of NRCS FTEs from discretionary to mandatory farm bill funding and eliminates 2,341 Inflation Reduction Act-funded positions. As a result, the sharp declines in the state-by-state FTE tables may not directly reflect total staffing reductions."

Still, Fordyce maintained that USDA remains capable of carrying out its mission.

"We do feel very strongly that, given where we are from a staffing level, that we are delivering the mission," he said.

There was bipartisan pushback over the local impact.

"USDA cannot cut, reorganize and reshuffle the local capacity and act surprised when farmers are stuck waiting," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif.

FUNDING CONSTRAINTS

The rationale for not rebuilding the FSA and NRCS workforces -- agencies Fordyce oversees -- is funding.

"We're hopeful that in FY 2027, through the appropriations process, that we will be able to see more of a normal appropriation related to staffing," Fordyce said.

That argument, however, comes as the administration's own FY 2027 budget proposal seeks lower salaries and expenses funding for both FSA and NRCS, a point Democrats repeatedly highlighted during the hearing.

A House committee has already advanced the proposed FY 2027 discretionary budget for USDA. It includes $1.1 billion for FSA, $19 million below the fiscal year 2026 enacted level. Another $50 million would be transferred to the One Farmer, One File initiative.

The proposal also includes $800 million for NRCS, $50 million below the fiscal year 2026 enacted level. Overall, the appropriations bill would provide $22.5 billion for USDA, $675 million below the fiscal year 2026 enacted level.

Fordyce suggested additional funding could still emerge.

"There are other forces at work that realize that ... we probably need some additional dollars for staffing ... we will just see kind of where that goes in the FY '27 budget," he told DTN.

The Senate version of USDA's appropriations bill was expected to be marked up on Thursday, but Sen. Mitch McConnell's, R-Ky., hospitalization delayed consideration.

The request for lower funding earlier this year, followed by claims that additional hiring is constrained, drew criticism from House Agriculture Committee Democrats.

"I would submit that appropriations is not the only constraint, that much of what we're dealing with is choices made by this administration that we're now trying to correct for," Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., said on Wednesday.

Hayes argued that workforce reductions and actions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last year contributed to increased resignations and staffing shortages.

"I think it would have to be a really compelling argument to come back to Congress and now ask for appropriations to replace staff that was cut by the administration," she said.

STAFF SHORTAGES INCREASE CONGRESSIONAL CASEWORK

If additional funding is not secured until the fiscal year 2028 appropriations cycle, farmers and counties may need to rely on grassroots advocacy efforts or congressional offices to resolve service delays and staffing shortages.

While acknowledging concerns across farm country, Fordyce said USDA plans to hire up to 9,500 employees, though he did not provide a timeline.

The hiring process remains slow and takes too long, Fordyce said. "This is government speed," he said, adding, "We'll do it as quickly as we can."

Fordyce pointed to a management tool that informs their thinking, called the "Optimally Productive Office," that uses performance metrics to help managers allocate staff, identify bottlenecks and balance workloads across jurisdictions.

ONE FARMER, ONE FILE SOLUTIONS

At FSA, acreage reporting represents the agency's largest administrative workload, Fordyce said.

Using IT modernization and an integrated field tool, "We are piloting it, we are seeing time savings," he said.

He said he hopes to expand the effort across multiple agencies but has not established adoption targets, citing the need for flexibility across different producer operations.

Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Ore., asked how USDA plans to deliver increased conservation funding with fewer employees. Fordyce outlined several approaches, including improving efficiencies, implementing the hiring plan, continuing current operations and relying more heavily on partnerships.

The primary solutions he described rely on partners rather than additional NRCS employees, aligning with the Trump administration's broader goal of reducing the size of the federal workforce.

Fordyce pointed to relationships with local soil and water conservation districts, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and other groups that are increasingly taking on technical assistance roles, saying "those folks are critical and also healthy ... to move out those dollars."

Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., highlighted his marker bill, which is in both chambers' farm bills, the Increased Technical Service Providers (TSPs) Access Act, which aims to expand approval pathways for TSPs, or to contract more technical assistance providers.

"I was wondering if that doesn't take some of the load off the USDA and the FSA offices by having people that understand the programs," he asked.

Fordyce responded: "There is merit in what you proposed."

-- House Appropriation-approved funding: https://docs.house.gov/… and https://appropriations.house.gov/…

-- USDA 2027 Budget and Full-time Employee Request: https://www.usda.gov/…

-- 2027 USDA NRCS EXPLANATORY NOTES, breaking down the staffing obligations based on the proposed budget:

https://www.usda.gov/…

-- Prospects Partners LLC and NSAC Blog on FSA Offices without staff: https://prospectdc.com/…

Jake Zajkowski can be reached at jake.zajkowski@dtn.com

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