DPI District Agronomist Paul Parker who is also the Officer in Charge of the Young office says Ms Miller has been the first point of contact for farmers in the district and will be sorely missed by everyone.

"She has been the face of the DPI in the region for so long and is well known to many people throughout the district," Mr Parker said.

"Her retirement, though well deserved will be a great loss to the region, as she takes all her considerable experience and knowledge on to other pursuits."

"Gillian had a special personal touch with our clients and a great store of technical and local knowledge gained through her long years with the DPI," Mr Parker said.

Ms Miller decided to take up the DPI offered voluntary redundancy, finishing work last Thursday and it is believed that the position for the Young Office will not be refilled anytime in the near future.

"As this was a voluntary redundancy we cannot fill the same position for 12 months however a request for a part time position to cover the clerical aspects of the job has been submitted," Mr Parker explained.

"Ms Miller's knowledge would be impossible to replace, however the fact that we cannot fill this important staffing position at this stage is likely to have a significant impact on the DPI's ability to service farmers as efficiently as we have in the past.

"The secretary position is almost always the main point of contact for farmers and facilitates communication between our clients and the field staff that are regularly out of the office.

"We will obviously not be as readily contactable and I hope sincerely that our clients will understand and be patient," Mr Parker said.

"The phone answering service will be on a lot of the time and available staff will be working hard to keep up communication.

"Obviously there will be increased use of our mobile phones but clients need to remember that many parts of the district still have unreliable mobile phone coverage.

"We will ensure that all enquiries are answered in due course but this will take time as many staff are on the road for a large amount of the week."

Mr Parker explained that this is part of a larger staffing shortage in Young and surrounding districts as well.

"There are vacant positions in many Districts which require approval before we can go about filling them but there are some delays in the system at the present," Mr Parker said.

"Our field staff have been covering in other districts as well in recent times with several vacant positions awaiting approval for replacement and the few that the Department has advertised for, are waiting to be filled," Mr Parker explained.

"Two agronomist positions were recently advertised in Moree following the issue being raised by the rural community and the local member of Parliment. These positions will be filled shortly.

In Young, the District Horticulturalist position has been vacant for three months and it is uncertain as to when it may be refilled and the Parkes District Agronomist position has been vacant for a year.

"There are also several positions temporarily vacant due to sick leave and maternity leave which sees staff from surrounding districts travelling further afield to cover the required services in their neighbouring regions," Mr Parker said.

"We are hoping for some movement on these fronts but in the meantime, all we can do is offer our assurance we will work to answer all enquiries to the best of our ability and request for our clients' understanding."