OMAHA (DTN) -- The National Agricultural Statistics Service -- the agency responsible for surveying and reporting U.S. crop acreages, crop condition, livestock reports and other information used for market forecasting -- is planning to restructure and downsize into regional offices, according to an agency memo obtained by DTN/The Progressive Farmer. The news raises questions whether planned changes will affect the agency's ability to accurately collect, process and report market-sensitive data, potentially further exacerbating current grain market volatility.

NASS currently has 46 field offices: One in all states and Puerto Rico except that there is a New England office in New Hampshire that covers a number of states.

In-state personnel will be reduced while, on average, each regional office will be staffed with 45 employees, the memo outlines. The proposal calls for a director in each state outside of the regional offices to manage cooperative agreements, stakeholder relations, and local agricultural initiatives. Most states will have a coordinator in their state department of agriculture to manage surveys and enumerators, deliver survey training developed at the National Operations Center, and provide specialized state commodity information to regional staff. These positions will report to the regional director.

According to the memo, "The proposal creates a regional field office structure while maintaining a NASS presence in each state." It also says that key D.C. staff and members of the senior executive team, "are making every effort to provide options to staff that will help them manage the difficult transitions ahead. Those options may include relocations to the regional offices, buy outs, early outs, and other possible options."

The memo, from Cynthia Clark, administrator of USDA's NASS program, advises staff that "the team's proposal for regional field offices will reduce our long-term costs and optimize programs and staffing across our entire organization so that we can remain viable in the future." Agency officials have said new technologies have helped ease the information gathering and tallying effort. The proposal is for the transition to nine regional field offices with reduced state staff to happen by the end of 2013. It is grounded in five guiding principles, according to the memo. "These included: retaining NASS's most valuable resource -- our employees and their knowledge and dedication to the NASS mission; providing high-quality agricultural statistics; retaining local knowledge held by field office staff; maintaining partnerships with state departments of agriculture and universities; and maintaining close working relationships with state and local producer organizations."

The regions, based on similarities in cash receipts, list sizes, agricultural and ag-related issues, survey programs, and average workload, as well as logistical considerations, are recommended as follows:

Northeastern (Harrisburg, Pa.) -- Delaware, Maryland, New England, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania

Eastern Mountain (Louisville, Ky.) -- Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia

Southern (Maitland, Fla.) -- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico

Upper Midwest (Des Moines, Iowa) -- Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin

Heartland (St. Louis, Mo.) -- Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio

Northern Plains (Sioux Falls, S.D.) -- Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota

Southern Plains (Austin, Texas) -- Oklahoma, Texas

Mountain (Lakewood, Colo.) -- Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Pacific West (Sacramento, Calif.) -- Alaska, California, Idaho, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington

USDA spokespersons would not comment on the memo or any changes proposed in it, nor on what the changes might mean to the accuracy of its reports.

Linda Smith can be reached at linda.smith@telventdtn.com

(GH/SK/AG)

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