LITTLE ROCK — Farmers and ranchers spoke out Monday against a U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal to consolidate Farm Service Agency offices in Arkansas.
“Two years from now, [USDA] won’t have saved 50 cents from this proposal,” Pulaski County farmer Gary Bredlow, who grows soybeans and rice, said after the meeting. “But we can live with it either way.”
Under the proposal, announced Jan. 11 by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the Pulaski County Farm Service Agency would be consolidated with the agency office in Lonoke County. Producers in Saline and Grant counties are also currently assigned to the Pulaski County office and would be reassigned.
In all, 10 Farm Service Agency offices in the state are marked for closure; five rural development offices and the Natural Resources Conservation Service soil survey office in Little Rock may also close if the proposal is approved.
In the U.S., 259 USDA offices were selected for closure under the proposal.
Linda Newkirk, state executive director of the Farm Service Agency, said during Monday’s public comment meeting that the agency can’t maintain all county offices while “continuing to provide producers the best customer service.”
“Over the past three years FSA has faced a variety of budget-related challenges,” Newkirk said. “All of us have been asked to do more with less.”
She said staff reductions in Arkansas were a major part of the reason the state had 10 offices on the list.
In 2008, there were 310 Farm Service Agency employees throughout the state; today there are 278. Nationally, there were 14,699; that has been reduced to 12,654.
Newkirk said that offices that had no more than two employees, as well as offices within 20 miles of another office, were proposed for consolidation.
Monday’s public comment meeting at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service building was the first in the state. About 20 producers were on hand, while two made public comments. Newkirk said Monday afternoon that her office hadn’t received any written comments.
There was another meeting Monday for farmers in Garland County. The other eight public comment meetings will be between Thursday and Monday, Feb. 6.
Debbie Moreland, whose family grows soybeans and wheat in western Pulaski County, said the proposed consolidation would discourage smaller producers from seeking loans and grants from the agency. “The very people that [the Farm Service Agency] says it’s targeting,” she said.
“I think it’s just absurd that [the USDA is] trying to make these budget cuts.” Moreland said during the meeting. “Farmers ... account for such a minute portion of the USDA budget, it’s unbelievable to me that is the area they always come to to make savings.”
The proposal is expected to save USDA $150 million a year, a small part of the $3 billion, or 12 percent, that Congress has cut during the past two years from the operational budget.
Moreland said she understands the budget situation and that closures are inevitable, but that instead of looking at the number of employees a Farm Service Agency office has, the workload of an office should also be taken into consideration.
George Worthen, a Scott area pine tree producer, agreed that workload, not the number of employees, should be considered.
“I am concerned about the proposed consolidation,” he said during the meeting. “It shouldn’t be based upon current [office size] but on authorization strength,” referring to how much money in loans an office approves every year.
He said an office might have only two employees because someone retired or left for another job and the position was never filled.
Worthen also noted that closing the office in Pulaski County would be a bad idea because it’s convenient for farmers to come to Little Rock.
“Theoretically, you’d think [the USDA] would want an FSA office in Pulaski County,” Worthen said. “It’s the center of government and the center of trade. People come here for medical reason or shopping or other services offered in central Arkansas. ... You always consolidate to the hub.”
For Libbie Dougan the reason for wanting the office to stay in Pulaski County is more personal.
Dougan, whose husband, Bo, died in November, said the agency office in Pulaski County has promised to help her out while she tries to take charge of the farm.
“The FSA office employees were going to hold my hand,” she said after the meeting. “The people in other counties are great, but I don’t know them and they don’t know me.”
After the meeting, Newkirk said that notes from all 10 public comment meetings will be sent to Washington, D.C., for review.
Business, Pages 23 on 01/24/2012