Remarks by Tom Weber, Associate Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service, at the Asian Pacific Islander Organization Annual Training Conference

Woodland Hills, CA
August 25, 2003

It is a pleasure to be here today to talk about where the NRCS is headed and to touch a bit on the role of the Asian Pacific Islander Organization (APIO) in helping us reach our goals.

As you know, the 2002 farm bill is providing a record level of investment in conservation on America’s farms and ranches. Putting the farm bill to work requires new ways of doing business. We need to form new partnerships, and we need to build a strong Technical Service Provider system if we are to succeed.

Chief Knight refers to this changing role for NRCS as becoming more of a catalyst or enabler for conservation. That means doing a smaller portion of the work ourselves and devoting more of our efforts to working with others to help get conservation done.

I see an important role for APIO in the new NRCS. APIO is dedicated to adding value to NRCS by serving as a bridge to communities. This is a good role for APIO, as NRCS and the rest of the Department of Agriculture work to increase the level of service in traditionally underserved populations.

As part of this effort, we have been accomplishing good things in the Pacific Basin Area. We are providing Conservation Technical Assistance. We are administering traditional programs in Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The EQIP program in these areas is focused on using animal waste on agroforesty crops and to provide needed nutrients for improved crop production. The Small Watershed Program helps protect land from the surface runoff and leaching that comes with an annual rainfall of 300 inches. Our watershed program on Saipan involves more than $1.5 million in wetland mitigation, wells, irrigation systems, and a reservoir. And, last year, Secretary Veneman authorized the second RC&D area in the Pacific Basin area. Jocelyn Bamba, an active APIO member, is the coordinator for this new area.

Of course, we are also working to make NRCS services and programs available to farmers and ranchers of Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage, wherever they live in the 50 states. All of these programs are an opportunity for the members of APIO and others to build bridges to important agricultural communities.

APIO is also playing a role in building diversity throughout the conservation partnership. Last spring, we held a Partnership Diversity Summit in Washington, DC. The session brought together the leaders of several major partner organizations: NACD, NARC&DC, NASCA, and NCDEA, along with the presidents of most of the NRCS employee organizations. We had a productive session discussing what we all need to do to increase the diversity of our leadership structures and improve our service to traditionally underserved populations. Many of us met again last month at the NARC&DC conference in San Antonio to review an action plan for reaching these goals.


CIVIL RIGHTS POLICY STATEMENT

I would like to talk a bit about the NRCS Civil Rights Policy Statement.

Every employee should have received a copy of this policy last year. I want you to know that Chief Knight and I stand behind every word in this statement – not because they are laws and policies, but because they are the right thing to do. We will work hard to make sure NRCS lives up to the commitment represented by this policy.

As an agency, we need to live up to this policy with regard to our workforce. We need to match the diversity of our recruiting to the diversity of our nation. This is particularly true for recruiting Asian American and Pacific Islander employees. There is under-representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders within USDA.

Addressing this situation will take hard work all across the nation, and it will take time. We will need strong recruiting today, and we will need to work with colleges, universities, and communities to build a stronger recruiting base in the future.

Beyond recruiting, we also need to make sure that all of our employees have an opportunity to move up in the organization. We also need to retain the diversity we already have, even as we face the challenges of competitive sourcing and the upcoming loss of many of our older employees through retirement.


COMPETITIVE SOURCING

I know the concept of Competitive Sourcing has been very unsettling to many NRCS employees, particularly for employees whose jobs are being studied. But I want you to know that we value your contributions to this great agency, that we will make this effort fair and equitable, and that we will use all the tools at our disposal to ease the transition of any employees who wind up being affected by competitive sourcing.

There are a few things I would like you to keep in mind when you are thinking about Competitive Sourcing.

First, Competitive Sourcing is not a reflection on the quantity or quality of your service or your dedication to conservation.

Second, it is not directed at NRCS. It is a government-wide effort, to bring down the costs of government services – to provide value to the taxpayer.

Third, Competitive Sourcing is not an effort to get rid of government employees. There are no workforce reduction targets. If the government can do the work more efficiently, the work will stay in government. Thus far, most cost comparisons have been favorable to NRCS.

I am confident that much of this work will stay inside NRCS -- we do many things very well and very efficiently. One bit of good news for those who work in technical jobs, is that the government tends to be able to provide technical services more economically than the private sector. That means a good, solid comparison has a better chance of coming out in favor of the government retaining the function.

We will need your help in making these comparisons. We are committed to helping affected employees in every way possible. If any of our studies result in work moving out of the Federal government, we will do everything we can to retain affected employees within NRCS and to assist those people into the career options of their choice.


THE RETIREMENT BULGE

You have all heard about the so-called retirement bulge, when a large number of our employees become eligible to retire.

Retirement is a natural phenomenon. All of us will eventually retire. But, as long as we enjoy our work and feel valued, we won’t rush into retirement.

The retirement bulge presents the challenge of retaining our colleagues who want to continue working, while opening the doors for the next generation of conservationists.

We believe the key to retention is an attractive working environment, with opportunities for training and advancement for all employees. In short, we must continually strive to do more to make NRCS a good place to work, so we retain and reward the employees we have.

The retirement bulge will take away some of our hard-earned diversity, but also offer opportunities to make our workforce more diverse. Asian American and Pacific Islander employees fit the overall age profile of our agency, so we will need good retention and good recruiting to prevent the retirement bulge from increasing the under-representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in our workforce.


DIVERSITY IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

As you all know, our Civil Rights agenda does not stop with recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. It must be embodied in how we serve our customers.

We have been doing a pretty good job of serving Asian American and Pacific Islander farmers and ranchers, thanks in great part to your efforts in offices around the country. But we need to do more in terms of promoting program delivery among traditionally underserved populations, including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

You all know that the Department of Agriculture has been criticized regarding the delivery of programs equally to all farmers and ranchers. Our job, yours and mine, is to change that!

I want to thank the members of APIO for all you have done to help improve customer service for Asian American and Pacific Islander farmers and ranchers. You have done especially well in places like California, Hawaii, the Pacific Basin, the Upper Midwest, and other areas with high concentrations of Asian American and Pacific Islander farmers and ranchers.

Just as our conservation practices change the physical environment on a daily basis, we can change the service environment for our customers and improve the reputation of USDA.

All of the agencies within the Department have been working hard to correct this situation, and NRCS is no exception. But there is much that needs to be done.


FARM BILL OPPORTUNITIES

As I said at the beginning, the new farm bill makes more resources available to more farmers than ever before. It is important that we all work hard to extend the benefits of the new farm bill to everyone who is eligible.

That means doubling our efforts to serve all kinds of farmers. It means reaching out to all communities, including Asian American and Pacific Islander farmers and ranchers. It means being open, fair, courteous, and responsive.

USDA is being held increasingly responsible for delivering Agriculture programs to all citizens in this country, and that responsibility flows through agreements and contracts to everywhere Federal dollars are involved. NRCS and all of its partners must live up to this responsibility in everything we do, from meetings with landowners to delivery of services. That is what we talked about with our partner organizations last spring.

Many of you are well positioned in your local communities to get our messages out to those who could benefit from our programs and services.


TECHNICAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

The farm bill also provides for Technical Service Providers to assist landowners on a voluntary basis. Our goal is to make the program attractive enough that Technical Service Providers are in demand and we NRCS employees won’t have to work nights and weekends to keep up.

One of the things you can do to help in the Technical Service Provider process is to talk up the program in the community, so that a wide diversity of third party vendors come forward to do the work. We must ensure that these are people farmers and ranchers will trust to give them quality service.


TECHNICAL DELIVERY SYSTEM

Another key to success is for us to maintain the strength of our technical delivery system for farmers and ranches in every community.

One aspect of strengthening our technical delivery system is to be sure we focus on conservation and not on programs. Our goal is to help producers reach their conservation goals. Frequently we are involved in helping producers set goals, or translate existing goals into plans. We help producers do good things for the land within the context of maintaining a strong economic operation.

With all the new farm bill money, there will be a temptation to focus on programs – numbers of applications received, numbers of contracts approved. But this approach drifts away from our 70-year history of providing conservation assistance. So, focusing on conservation goals, rather than programs, is one important aspect of improving our technical delivery system.


CONCLUSION

So, there are challenging times ahead for all of us in our effort to become the catalysts of conservation. I know, because you are attending this week’s conference, that you have the dedication and the energy to help NRCS meet these challenges. I wish you good luck and continued success.