SALEM, Ohio — The government shutdown on Oct. 1 closed federal offices across the country, but it’s also impacted at least one county agency that works directly with farmers.
The Columbiana Soil and Water Conservation District shares office space with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s local Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency offices in Salem, Ohio.
It’s a unique situation, according to Pete Conkle, Columbiana SWCD district administrator, but the co-location arrangement has worked well as the federal and county agencies share a goal: to help farmers get technical assistance on conservation projects.
However, when the government shutdown furloughed thousands of USDA employees and closed local USDA offices, the conservation district lost access to its shared phone line, as well as its computers and email accounts that were hosted on an NRCS server.
The district responded quickly to the shutdown, creating a joint Gmail account (columbianacoswcd@gmail.com) and posting the staff’s direct phone lines, which were unaffected, on Facebook. But the disruption in services was and is frustrating for the SWCD and farmers who rely on them.
“We’re kind of swimming with shackles on at the moment,” Conkle said.
Congress failed to fund the government before the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, triggering the first government shutdown in more than five years.
All told, the USDA furloughed 42,256 out of its 85,907 total employees across all departments.
Most of the staff staying on during the shutdown were deemed necessary to protect life and property, such as essential food safety operations (inspections and laboratory work), responding to and preparing for wildfires and animal and plant health emergency programs (including new world screwworm, highly pathogenic avian influenza, exotic fruit flies, African swine fever and rabies).
However, most of the farmer-facing USDA departments are closed. About 95% of NRCS staff and 70% of FSA staff are furloughed right now, according to the USDA’s Lapse of Funding Plan.
If the shutdown lasts longer than 10 days, one employee per service center will be expected to be on call to complete certain active loan processing tasks. Borrowers are still expected to make loan payments on time, but no new loans will be processed.
The USDA also stopped payments for various programs, including disaster assistance, safety net programs and conservation contracts.
