USDA to close PI soil survey office
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Soil Survey Office in Presque Isle will close in the near future as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) looks to better meet the evolving needs of a 21st century agricultural economy.
Last Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack presented USDA’s “Blueprint for Stronger Service,” a plan that helps producers continue to drive America’s economy by streamlining operations and cutting costs.
“The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago,” said Vilsack. “We must innovate, modernize, and be better stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars. We must build on the record accomplishments of farm communities in 2011 with a stronger, more effective USDA in 2012 and beyond.”
The strategy is based on a department-wide review of operations conducted as part of the Administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste, launched by President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to make government work better and more efficiently for the American people. The agency took a hard look at all USDA operations, from headquarters to field offices. The end result is a plan that will create optimal use of USDA’s employees, better results for USDA customers, and greater efficiencies for American taxpayers.
The USDA will close 259 domestic offices, facilities and labs across the country, as well as seven foreign offices. In some cases, offices are no longer staffed or have a very small staff of one or two people; many are within 20 miles of other USDA offices. In other cases, technology improvements, advanced service centers, and broadband service have reduced some need for brick and mortar facilities.
“In a lot of these cases, the criteria we used began with ‘What level of service are we providing and what are the staff levels at the office?’” said USDA spokesman Matt Herrick in a phone interview last Wednesday from his Washington, D.C. office. “There is only one employee at the Presque Isle Soil Survey Office and the services can certainly be consolidated with an existing nearby office, which is what’s happening in this case. That work will continue out of the Dover-Foxcroft office.
“All of our employees that are affected by closures are being offered the opportunity to remain with USDA,” he said. “This particular employee in Presque Isle will transfer to another office.”
Herrick said the USDA had to take a realistic view of the needs of agriculture and conservation in a challenging budget climate.
“We’re in the process of modernizing our department, accelerating our service delivery and trying to improve our customer service, and we’re doing that by investing a lot in our technologies and business solutions,” he said. “The budget climate is such that our discretionary funding has been reduced by about 12 percent since 2010 and that includes our salaries and expenses.
“We had a natural attrition of employees at USDA; in the past 15 months we’ve lost 7,000 people because they’ve taken advantage of early retirement and buy-out options that were available to them, so we have less money, less staff and our work has become increasingly complex,” said Herrick. “We’re looking to make changes that will help enhance our overall service to our customers.”
When fully implemented, these actions — along with other recommended changes — will provide efficiencies valued at about $150 million annually. Plans to close or consolidate facility, office and lab operations will impact USDA headquarters in Washington and in 46 states and one U.S. territory.
Other USDA operations in Maine to close include a Farm Service Agency office in Warren, which services Knox and Lincoln counties, and a Food and Nutrition Service office in Augusta that meets the needs of residents in Kennebec County.
No date has been set for the closure of the Presque Isle office. The NRCS field office in Presque Isle, however, will not close. They will continue to service the producers in central Aroostook County.
