GAITHERSBURG, Md. – In late July, the USDA shared a memorandum saying that it intended to do a major reorganization. In that process, the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA), a conservation organization, is concerned with ensuring that conservation continues to be put out on the ground and that programs are running effectively.

“Of course, as a conservation organization, that is our North Star. We also know that these changes will have implications across wider issues of the agriculture community,” said Kate Hansen, IWLA agriculture program director.

On Aug. 29, the IWLA sent a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins with five recommendations regarding the proposed restructuring of the department:

1. Program enrollments, reimbursements, and technical assistance for conservation programs should not be interrupted or delayed due to reorganization.

“We want to ensure that those flagship conservation programs that farmers are enrolling in are not disrupted by this,” Hansen said. “We know that there is a lot of stress on farmers and the farm economy right now.”

 These programs can also be a diverse revenue stream, she explained. In some examples, it is a way to get cost share or financial assistance for conservation. Those programs should continue to run and continue to put good, beneficial practices on the ground across the country.

2. With additional resources Congress authorized for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, staff capacity in local USDA offices should match the upcoming increased workload to ensure successful implementation.

“That was an excellent decision on Congress’s part to invest additional money into these programs,” Hansen said. “The rate that farmers were applying to them was much higher than the amount that they could actually accept. We are excited to see additional resources go to those programs. In the context of USDA wanting to reduce its staff, we need to ensure that there will be the people power to get those programs turned into practices and in farmers’ pockets.”

3. Organize listening sessions or other opportunities for farmers and ranchers to share feedback on their experiences with USDA and the reorganization plan.

“We know that they are a very important stakeholder and these changes will eventually impact them on some level, and we want to just ensure that that is done,” Hansen explained.

4. Consider how restructuring the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) may impact the department’s effectiveness in collecting Census of Agriculture data in 2027.

This is a very large data effort that USDA takes on about every five years, not just related to conservation, but information on a whole host of things, Hansen said.

“Because they do intend to make some changes at the NASS, we wanted to again try to provide some feedback,” Hansen said. “We would like to see the census of agriculture come out strong the next time. It is important data for a lot of reasons.”

5. Because department staff are hardworking and often highly specialized in their expertise, provide them with flexibility and resources throughout any transition.

“This is more of a comment than anything, but the folks who are most immediately going to be impacted by this are staff,” Hansen said. “One of the things that they cite in the memorandum is that they are going to more than halve the headquarters staff down to 2,000. We know some folks will be lost in that process.

“I think again we are looking at this through a conservation lens because that is who we are at our core,” she said. “But we have a much wider impact and we are just trying to keep a close eye that any assistance to farmers is not negatively impacted.”

For the full text of the letter, contact: Kate Hansen, agriculture program director, Izaak Walton League at khansen@iwla.org