When “USDA” and “co-location of offices” appear in the same sentence, it usually means there’s a proposal to consolidate USDA’s local operations, particularly crop subsidy and land stewardship, into the same building. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue talked about co-location at the Iowa Ag Summit, but he meant a central location for handling permits from the USDA, Interior Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, reports Agri-Pulse.
The goal would be interagency cooperation, “a one-stop shop for people who have to have permits,” said Perdue. “We’re talking about all of us working together. That’s going to be one of the benefits of this administration.” The intent is not to weaken regulations, said Agri-Pulse, quoting Perdue as saying, “[T]he better we can do in coordinating paper processing and permit processing, the environmental studies that need to be done…the better off we are.”
During a speech, Perdue criticized the Corps of Engineers, which enforces wetlands and clean water laws, as creating “a lot of issues among our farmers” and “needs to be reined back in a little bit,” said Agri-Pulse. If agencies work side by side, it could lead to uniform decisions, said Perdue. “In agriculture, we’ve gotten some of those mixed signals before and they’re very frustrating.” The USDA and Interior Department oversee grazing and other use of federal land in the West.
While at the Iowa Ag Summit, Perdue signed a memorandum between USDA and SCORE, “the nation’s largest volunteer network of expert business mentors, to support new and beginning farmers,” said a USDA statement. “USDA and its partners across rural America are working with SCORE to support new farming and ranching operations, and identify and recruit mentors with a wealth of agricultural experience.”