Over 40,000 USDA employees have been furloughed due to the federal government shutdown that began Wednesday morning at 12 a.m.
The White House Office of Management and Budget requires all agencies to maintain a plan for operations in the absence of appropriations. USDA’s plan shows a total of 85,907 employees on board before the shutdown, with 42,256 placed on furlough.
According to the plan, work paused during the shutdown includes much of the Risk Management Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and Food and Nutrition Service. The shutdown especially impacts employees who work directly with farmers. More than 6,000 of the 9,000-plus Farm Service Agency employees are being furloughed, meaning farmers could face delays in getting operating loans approved, disaster assistance processed, or conservation contracts signed.
By contrast, only 533 of the 7,600-plus employees at the Food Safety and Inspection Service, which regulates meat and poultry processing, are affected. Because food safety is considered an essential service, most inspection duties will continue. Pesticide registration at the Environmental Protection Agency will also move forward despite the shutdown.
This comes at a particularly difficult time for producers. Many farmers are in the middle of harvest and rely on local FSA offices to certify production, enroll in farm programs, and access financing for the next planting season. During the 2018–2019 shutdown, similar office closures caused loan backlogs and delays in payments to thousands of farmers.
The scale of programs affected is massive. USDA’s Farm Service Agency issues direct operating loans of up to $400,000 and farm ownership loans of up to $600,000, with guaranteed loans available through lenders for up to $1.75 million. Each year, billions of dollars in loan guarantees and direct loans are processed through FSA offices across the country, funding everything from seed purchases to equipment upgrades. Any delay in processing these loans can quickly become a cash-flow crisis for producers during harvest.
Disaster relief programs are also on hold. Congress approved more than $31 billion in relief funding for producers suffering from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024, including $16 billion under the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program and $7.8 billion already issued through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program. More than $1 billion has been distributed to livestock producers for grazing losses due to drought and wildfires. With thousands of USDA staff now sidelined, farmers waiting on pending disaster payments could be left in limbo.
Lawmakers from farm states are already raising alarms. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said the furloughs will directly impact producers, noting, “Going to the county offices to sign papers, to give them information they need about your farming operation if you’re in the farm program, if you expect price supports and stuff that’s in law. I would say, if you’re in CRPs, you probably can’t sign up for it.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota added that the effects go beyond agriculture, pointing to federal highway and park service employees who are also impacted.
Farm groups such as the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union have warned that prolonged shutdowns disrupt farm business at the worst possible time, just as producers are juggling high input costs, low crop prices, and uncertain export demand. While crop insurance remains funded through permanent authority, many of the risk management and conservation tools farmers rely on most heavily are now on pause.
With more than 42,000 USDA employees sidelined, tens of billions of dollars in loans and disaster assistance at stake, and farmers facing mounting uncertainty during harvest, rural communities are bracing for ripple effects until Congress resolves the funding impasse.
