HONOLULU (DTN) -- USDA will close 131 Farm Service Agency offices this year as part of a department-wide overall plan to eliminate more than 250 offices, facilities and labs, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday.

Speaking to members of the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention, Vilsack told farmers that budget cuts by Congress had reduced USDA's discretionary budget by $3 billion over 10 years.

The total cuts combined would save more than $150 million annually once implemented, USDA stated.

In speaking about the 131 FSA office closures, Vilsack told farmers they would cause an inconvenience but no loss of services. The list includes 35 offices that currently have no employees. The rest of the offices being eliminated have either one or two employees and are within 20 miles of another FSA office.

Other agencies facing office cuts include the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Foreign Agricultural Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Rural Development, Food Safety and Inspection Service, and Food Nutrition and Consumer Services. Those agencies will close, consolidate or transfer their work in 118 other offices around the country.

Vilsack told farmers he had talked with key congressional leaders about the office closures. Under the Bush administration, USDA tried to cut as many as 240 Farm Service Agency offices, but there was backlash from Congress that essentially shelved the proposal.

The agriculture secretary noted that last year agencies put hiring controls in place and the department instituted an early retirement program. Those efforts have led to nearly 7,000 employees leaving the department in the last 15 months, he said.

"These departures have allowed us the flexibility to eliminate positions or restructure positions to be more relevant to the needs of our customers," Vilsack said.

Along with the office closures and staff retirements, Vilsack said USDA is "reaffirming" 133 recommendations from employees to save money that include items such as narrowing 700 different cellular phone contracts down to 10 to leverage buying power.

"We estimate implementation of all these recommendations will allow USDA to avoid spending millions of dollars in less effective ways while preserving funding for the programs directly serving rural America and avoiding furloughs or further reductions in workforce that can interfere with prompt delivery of important services.

Vilsack added that the office closures will be a "transparent process" to ensure USDA complies with notices or hearing requirements by Congress.

Despite the office losses, Vilsack noted USDA would still have 2,100 FSA offices around the country.

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@telventdtn.com

(AG)

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