Book Description

The Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-354, Oct. 13,1994) directed the Secretary of Agriculture to streamline and reorganize USDA to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness, and economies in its organization and management of programs and activities. In response to the act, USDA reconfigured and consolidated the program responsibilities of its seven mission areas and reduced the total number of USDA agencies and offices from 43 to 29. It also reduced its overall staff years from about 129,500 in 1993 to about 110,000 by the end of 1997. About two-thirds, or 13,400, of these reductions were made in field offices. The Department plans to reduce staffing by another 3,000 by the end of fiscal year 1999. A key aspect of this reorganization was the closure and consolidation of county offices delivering services across the country. In December 1994, USDA had about 7,375 FSA, NRCS, and RD offices in about 3,760 locations in the United States and its territories. Most agency offices were located with at least one other agency office. The Department's goals for consolidating county offices were to reduce the number of field offices to about 6,300 and the number of office locations to around 2,555. Furthermore, USDA expected each remaining office to be a one-stop shopping service center-a single location that would provide customer access for all farm, conservation, and rural development services.