USDA to close two Southeast Missouri offices

Two Southeast Missouri USDA offices will close as part of a cost-cutting plan that will save the agency more than $150 million annually.

The Rural Development office in Jackson and the Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Dexter are among 259 facilities slated for closure in USDA's "Blueprint for Stronger Service."

Ten offices in Missouri will close.

All permanent full-time employees will be given options to stay with the department, said Matt Herrick, communications coordinator in Washington, D.C.

"We are doing everything feasible to minimize the impact on employees," he said.

The Jackson office has two employees, and the Dexter office has three.

These closings and consolidations will begin taking place over the late winter and spring. Rural Development and the Natural Resources Conservation Service aim to complete the closures by the end of September, Herrick said.

In some cases, offices are no longer staffed or have a very small staff of one or two people. Many are within 20 miles of other USDA offices, the agency said in a news release Monday. In other cases, technology improvements, advanced service centers and broadband service have reduced some need for brick-and-mortar facilities.

Pertinent address:

480 West Jackson Trails, Jackson, MO

18450 Ridgeview Lane, Dexter, MO