Staffing cuts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have Nebraska farmers wondering whether they have enough support to participate in federal conservation programs.
The Center for Rural Affairs says Nebraska has lost 89 Natural Resources Conservation Service positions, dropping from 407 to 318.
Fifth-generation Custer County farmer Clay Govier said adequate staffing matters because the programs can be complicated, even for farmers who have used them for years.
"You need some staff to help guide you and make sure that you're collecting the right records. And we can have all the funding and all the practices, we can have all that in the whole wide world, but if you don't have the right staff to help implement it, just it's never going to work," Govier said.
Govier farms about 3,500 acres near Broken Bow and has used NRCS programs for more than a decade. The programs provide financial and technical assistance for practices such as cover crops, no-till farming and other efforts designed to reduce erosion and improve soil and water health.
Govier said the Broken Bow NRCS office was understaffed before its primary contact took a federal buyout. Govier said a regional manager based in Ord is now overseeing both locations — increasing territory and number of producers one person is responsible for.
"You know, he's very knowledgeable. He's been doing it a long time, but now he's managing two locations and I think has to spend a lot of time on the road just to meet with different farmers and go over different programs that might be agreeable to him," Govier said.
More cuts could be ahead. USDA's 2027 budget proposal calls for eliminating a significant number of employee years from Conservation Technical Assistance.
