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Sherman County residents object to ag office closingsLOUP CITY, Neb. (AP)--Sherman County residents who testified made it clear: Don't close our agriculture service offices. "I believe that closing these offices will be a failure of a government of the people, by the people and for the people," said Rich Peters, a bank loan officer, at the April 10 hearing. He was referring to plans that would close Loup City's Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service offices. Twelve of Nebraska's 81 Farm Service Agency field offices will likely close as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture plan to consolidate the offices nationwide. The FSA, which proposed closing nearly a third of its 2,351 offices nationwide before scuttling the plan last year, helps administer government payments to farmers and manages other agricultural programs. The National Resources Conservation Service, another USDA program, plans to cut five of its 81 Nebraska field offices. Under the FSA restructuring plan, field offices would be cut in Banner, Boyd, Deuel, Dixon, Dundy, Frontier, Garfield, Greeley, Hayes, Sarpy, Sherman and Thomas counties. The public comment on the proposals ends April 27. Then officials will discuss final proposals that will be presented to national managers. For the April 10 hearing, the county's economic development board made a presentation that included testimony by several farmers, business owners and community leaders. They said the consolidation wouldn't increase the agencies' efficiency and instead would harm agency employees, county ag producers and Loup City's economy. "You're passing the buck from Washington to us poor guys back here in Sherman County," said farmer Paul Kusek. State FSA executive director Brian Wolford the proposed closings were born by cutbacks in the number of FSA employees paid by the state: from nearly 700 more than a decade ago to 374 today. The state calculates that Sherman County's FSA office had enough work for three full-time employees and one part-timer--too few to retain the separate office. Under one proposal, the Sherman County office would consolidate with the one in Buffalo County, but the state would let Sherman County farmers choose whether they wanted to conduct FSA business in Valley, Custer, Howard or Hall counties. The National Resources Conservation Service cutbacks are also results of tight funding, said State Conservationist Steve Chick. "We've cut corners in every way we possibly can in the last few years," Chick said. "We cannot sustain these kinds of cuts for very long." The conservation service ranked its 81 Nebraska offices by workload, then proposed cutting the five lowest. Loup City's office has the lowest workload among the Lower Loup NRD's eight offices, Chick said. Some of the Sherman County residents said forcing farmers to another county for government services would pose burdens that would keep many out of the programs. "If we have to go to Ord or someplace, I'm not going to bother. I'm sure of that," said farmer Eldon Kieborz, who also is chairman of the county board of commissioners. B 10 4/30/07 6 Star Midwest Ag Date: 4/25/07
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