Nearly one-third of Farm Service Agency offices targeted for closure

The Agriculture Department late Friday sent members of Congress a state-by-state chart showing that it plans to close 30.3 percent, or 713, of the 2,350 Farm Service Agency county offices in the 48 continental states.

These offices, which were created in the 1930s, certify farmers for farm programs and pay out farm subsidies and disaster payments. The number of offices to be closed was higher than the 655 listed in an internal USDA memo obtained by the Associated Press earlier this month. Revelations of that memo led the Senate last week to amend the fiscal 2006 Agriculture appropriations bill restricting the USDA's authority to close county offices.

The USDA sent the information on the number of offices the FSA wants to close to Capitol Hill only hours after Agriculture Secretary Johanns issued a news release that FSA Administrator Jim Little, a longtime civil servant, had resigned to work on hurricane relief efforts.

Little sent all FSA employees a letter Friday noting that the agency had decided that "consolidation into 1,650 offices will result in better staffed, trained and equipped offices." Little's letter did not mention any plans for a reduction in federal employment, but in August the FSA sent employees a memo saying it was planning to cut 850 positions under its authorization for fiscal 2005 and offer buyouts to 214 permanent employees and 321 county employees. Senate Budget ranking member Kent Conrad, D-N.D., called on President Bush to make a quick, strong appointment to replace Little.

"It is important that we have strong, farmer-friendly leadership at FSA," Conrad said. "We must fill the void quickly so there is no disruption in the critical services FSA provides to our agriculture communities."

The FSA made no public announcement about the plan, but Senate Agriculture ranking member Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Senate Finance Chairman Grassley quickly reacted negatively to plans to close 22 of 100 offices in their state.

"It's hard to believe the objective is better service when on its face, this plan to shutter nearly a fourth of Iowa's county offices will lead to more driving, greater inconvenience and less service," a Harkin spokesman said.

In a statement, Grassley said he anticipates the Agriculture spending bill amendment restricting USDA's authority to cut offices to not only say so in the bill but "even be strengthened when the House and the Senate meet to work out the differences."

Southern and Midwestern states, where counties are smaller and the number of offices therefore greater, would be subject to the highest number of consolidations. According to the USDA plan, 70 offices would be closed in Texas, home to House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Henry Bonilla; 39 in Georgia, home to Senate Agriculture Chairman Chambliss, 32 in Mississippi, home to Senate Appropriations Chairman Cochran, and 15 in Virginia, home to House Agriculture Chairman Goodlatte. The FSA chart indicated that 1,307 county offices would be reviewed before 713 are closed.