USDA To Close 259 Offices

USDA announced that it will close 259 offices nationwide, a move that won praise for cutting costs but raised concerns about the possible effect on food safety, the Associated Press reports.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the goal was to save $150 million a year in the agency’s $145 billion budget. About $90 million had already been saved by reducing travel and supplies and the closures were expected to save another $60 million, Vilsack said.

The plan calls for 259 offices, labs and other facilities to be closed, affecting the USDA headquarters in Washington and operations in 46 states. Seven foreign offices also will be shut. Vilsack said he didn’t anticipate widespread layoffs, in part because 7,000 USDA employees took early retirements over the past year. He said the agency is trying to do more with less in light of federal cutbacks, and many of the offices to be closed had few employees or were near other offices.

Bruce Babcock, a farm economist at Iowa State University and director of the school’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, said consolidation was a long time coming, given that advances in technology made it possible to file applications and do other tasks over the phone or online. He said he’s more concerned about the USDA’s ability to maintain programs that deal with disease prevention.