Sen. Adam Schiff (center, with hat) tours a Fresno County blueberry farm on May 24. Schiff announced that eight USDA farm offices will not close as originally planned. Photo via Schiff's X account

A U.S. Department of Agriculture field office in Madera will remain open, saved from a planned closure announced in March by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Farm Service Agency office — established to administer farm commodity programs and loans — is one of eight USDA offices in California spared closure by the Trump administration, announced Monday by U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

He was informed of the reversal by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a letter dated May 30 stating the General Services Administration has rescinded lease termination notices for offices in Bakersfield, Blythe, Los Angeles and Salinas, and are working toward the same goal for Madera, Oxnard, Woodland and Yreka.

“California is the nation’s largest agricultural state, and these USDA offices are vital for farmers and rural communities to access essential services they rely on,” said Sen. Schiff in a statement. “I would like to thank Secretary Rollins for engaging with us to ensure that Californians have access to these crucial services. I will keep pushing the administration to ensure that critical USDA offices in California continue to operate without interruption.”

An office in Mt. Shasta and a newly added Brea office have not been removed from the list of terminations, Schiff said.

It was back on March 4 that The Business Journal reported that an estimated one in 10 active federal commercial real estate leases had been canceled by DOGE, then under the leadership of Elon Musk.  That included the IRS customer service center in Visalia as well as the Farm Service Agency offices in Bakersfield and Madera that will remain open.