Today, Invest in Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels issued the following statement in response to a letter led by Representative Dan Newhouse (R-WA), signed by 14 other House Members, to Richard Fordyce, the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation, asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to address understaffing at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA).
“We applaud Rep. Dan Newhouse and the 14 Members of Congress who signed this letter and are standing up for America’s farmers and ranchers. This is exactly the kind of leadership that producers across the country need right now.
“America’s farmers and ranchers are facing punishing economic headwinds — from high input costs and volatile commodity prices to extreme weather and growing uncertainty about the future. Federal conservation programs are among the most effective, proven, and popular tools they have to cut costs, boost productivity, and build the resilience they need to survive. But those programs only work if NRCS has the staff to deliver them — and right now, they don’t.
“More than 500 farmers recently signed a letter making exactly this point. Farmers across the country are already telling us that their local NRCS offices are understaffed and overburdened. As indicated by the letter, Congress is now hearing the message as well. NRCS has already lost 22 percent of its workforce, and producers are feeling the consequences every single day. The administration’s budget proposal would make a bad situation dramatically worse — sharply cutting discretionary funding for Conservation Technical Assistance and leaving most states with fewer than ten NRCS employees tasked with performing the critical work of walking farms, writing conservation plans, and delivering these programs on the ground.
“We urge USDA to heed the call from Rep. Newhouse and his colleagues, address this staffing crisis immediately, and ensure that farmers who need help can actually get it.”
Proposed cuts to NRCS staff who provide conservation technical assistance to producers in a number of key agricultural states are shown below:
| State | 2026 | 2027 | Cut |
| Arkansas | 56 | 8 | -86% |
| South Dakota | 53 | 8 | -85% |
| Iowa | 52 | 8 | -85% |
| Pennsylvania | 43 | 6 | -86% |
| Georgia | 43 | 6 | -86% |
| Louisiana | 37 | 5 | -87% |
| Colorado | 42 | 6 | -86% |
| Minnesota | 38 | 6 | -84% |
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Invest in Our Land is a nonpartisan organization committed to amplifying the voices of American farmers and ranchers and ensuring they have the tools and support they need to implement conservation practices that strengthen their operations, safeguard our natural resources, and secure the future of U.S. agriculture. Learn more at investinourland.org.
