The federal shutdown will delay payments expected to farmers under several commodity, conservation and aid programs, USDA detailed in a document posted Sept. 30.
USDA’s “Lapse of Funding Plan” spells out what positions and obligations at various agencies will continue to operate and which agency activities will be halted.
All told, USDA will furlough 42,256 employees out of 85,907 total employees across the department. The lion’s share of employees remaining are classified as necessary to protect life and property. Most of the employees remaining will be at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
At the Farm Service Agency (FSA), 6,377 staff in county offices across the country will be furloughed. FSA stops processing payments under the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) and the Supplemental Disaster Assistance Program, as well as payments under ARC/PLC and the Conservation Reserve Program.
USDA had announced the final $2 billion in ECAP payments would go out to farmers. It’s unclear if those deposits were made before the Wednesday shutdown.
All FSA farm-loan activity is halted as well, from processing to closing loans and signing off on guaranteed loans or lines of credit.
At the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), 8,849 employees will be furloughed, leaving fewer than 500 NRCS staff working during the shutdown. All technical assistance is halted. Dam safety and rehabilitation duties continue because they affect life and safety.
Agricultural statistics will halt during the furlough. At the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), 456 employees will be furloughed. All NASS data reports, including monthly reports, will be suspended. NASS had four monthly reports set for release later Wednesday afternoon.
The Economic Research Service and Office of the Chief Economist also suspended all their program activities. The next World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report is set for release Oct. 9. Twice in the past 12 years—October 2013 and January 2018—USDA has suspended the release of a WASDE report because of a government shutdown.
At Rural Development, 2,640 staff will be furloughed. The majority of the agency’s work is suspended.
Core food nutrition programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children continue operations during a lapse of appropriations, “subject to the availability of funds.”
At FSIS, the 7,064 food inspectors will continue to perform their duties at processing plants, inspecting meat, poultry and egg products, as well as lab work and investigations into food outbreaks.
For APHIS, the majority of staff, 5,734 of them, will remain on board. APHIS will continue border inspections. USDA will use emergency funding balances to deal with New World screwworm, highly pathogenic avian influenza and other animal disease challenges.
At USFS, 12,744 employees out of 32,390 will be furloughed. USFS will shut down activities at 154 national forests and more than 500 ranger districts across 193 million acres of land. Operations for wildfires, law enforcement, emergency and natural disaster response and protecting infrastructure will continue. — Chris Clayton, DTN ag policy editor
