[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 51 (Friday, March 23, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FSA CLOSURE MORATORIUM LEGISLATION

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                         HON. STEPHANIE HERSETH

                            of south dakota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 22, 2007

  Ms. HERSETH. Madam Speaker, recently, in my home state of South 
Dakota, the state executive director of the USDA Farm Service Agency 
announced a plan to eliminate at least six county FSA offices that 
currently serve South Dakota farmers and ranchers. I think this plan is 
ill-timed and unnecessary. It will require many producers to travel 
greater distances to receive necessary services including critical 
price support, conservation, and disaster programs. If carried out, 
this consolidation would force considerable hardship and expense on all 
affected farm and ranch families, especially considering the fact that 
some of the counties targeted are among South Dakota's most rural. Even 
by USDA's own admission, the plan will result in almost no savings of 
taxpayer dollars, but it will certainly result in increased 
inconvenience, travel time and cost to producers. Local FSA offices are 
a lifeline to farmers and ranchers in South Dakota and some at USDA 
apparently do not fully recognize their value to our state.
  Moreover, because we are just beginning debate on a new farm bill, it 
makes no sense to implement major changes to our FSA county office 
system at this time. We don't yet know what the next farm bill will 
look like and, therefore, we don't know what the demands on local FSA 
offices are going to be. As a member of the House Agriculture Committee 
and its subcommittees for Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research 
and General Farm Commodities and Risk Management, this legislation is 
necessary to protect family producers that rely on their local offices 
for timely and personal access to USDA's farm programs.
  This bill will simply require that USDA postpone any FSA county 
office closures until well after Congress has finished its work of 
reauthorizing the Farm Bill and we know what the personnel demands on 
local offices will be. I urge my colleagues to support this important 
legislation.

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