USDA Plan Threatens Local Office
A recent Department of Agriculture plan for restructuring the Farm Service Agency, termed FSA Tomorrow, calls for potential consolidations of 713 FSA offices nationwide. Under this plan, all state officials, including those in Texas, are required to review all offices for possible consolidation.
In addition, Texas officials must conduct an even closer review of 139 Texas Commodity Program Offices that did not meet the minimum workload and travel distance thresholds established in Washington, D.C. This includes the Glasscock County FSA office.
By Nov. 15, Texas officials must submit a prioritized listing of 70 FSA offices that should be considered for consolidation. Texas is also to identify and recommend for consolidation four Farm Loan Program delivery points.
Distance between offices and staffing were the two criteria given primary consideration in the weighted listing of offices to be considered for consolidation. Any office scoring less than 60 points was selected for review. Both national and state officials recommended Glasscock County’s office, which scored 53.52 total points, for review.
Other area FSA offices’ scores were: Howard County 48.30 points, Martin County 47.91 points and Midland County 40.52 points, but only Washington recommended review of those three offices. Reagan County scored 76.58 points and was not recommended for review at all.
Producers May Take Action
Producers concerned about the possible consolidation of the local office may take action by contacting their representatives and senators in Washington. The most effective correspondence should probably deal with non-statistical data, which describe unique attributes of the local office, merits of the office’s location, and reasons it should not be consolidated.
If Glasscock County’s FSA office were closed, its producers would be able to choose which neighboring office they want to handle their business. Midland, Martin, Howard, and Reagan counties would be options.
The statewide weighted table, along with an explanation of the weighting, is available in the local FSA office.
Sources for more information include the following web sites: www.nafec.org (National Association of Farmer Elected Committee Members); www.nascoe.org (official site of National Association of Farm Service Agency County Office Employees); www.nascoemembers.org (unofficial site of NASCOE members) and www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/tomorrow/fsatomorrow.htm (FSA’s site on FSA Tomorrow plan)