Senate panel to question proposal for Farm Service closures
Nearly one-third of county offices slated to close.
Senate Agriculture Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., will hold a hearing Thursday on the Agriculture Department's controversial plan to close 713 of the 2,351 Farm Service Agency county offices.
The offices, which have existed since the 1930s, certify farmer eligibility for farm subsidies, handle applications for subsidies and disaster programs and make farm payments. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced the consolidation plan last week, after rumors of it had circulated for several weeks.
"The ultimate goal of the modernization proposal is to create a network of state-of-the-art FSA offices by upgrading equipment, investing in technology and providing personnel with additional training. Minimal, if any, net reductions in personnel are anticipated," Johanns said in a statement announcing the proposed closings.
Agriculture ranking member Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he fully supported Chambliss's plan for a hearing.
"USDA has failed to show how a plan that will close roughly one-third of offices nationwide will provide better services for farmers and rural America," he said. "It appears that USDA officials in Washington intend to go forward with this plan with little involvement by affected communities or Congress. This hearing should shine some light on the effects this apparently drastic plan will have for rural communities and farmers."
Chambliss said he decided to hold the hearing at the suggestion of Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., who with Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., amended the fiscal 2006 Agriculture appropriations bill to require Johanns to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the proposal.
"Sen. Talent and I agree that service to producers and the agriculture community should not diminish," Chambliss said in a news release. "Unfortunately, USDA has yet to demonstrate that the 'FSA Tomorrow' plan will yield better service for producers. At Sen. Talent's suggestion, we will have top USDA officials in for an accounting."
Talent added that "we are very concerned about our FSA offices when there has been little or no consultation with local offices or our farmers and producer groups."