(Washington, D.C.)– Farm Service Agency offices nationwide aren’t closing after all.
An official with the U-S Agriculture Department says the agency will give up plans to close the 700 offices because of widespread opposition in congress.
U-S Senator Chuck Grassley has been a vocal opponent of the proposal. He says if the Ag Department was serious about it’s proposal it would have worked with the congress on it as part of the budget process early in the year. Grassley says they need to do a better job of convincing the american farmer that it will increase efficiency as they claim.
A hearing on the closures had been scheduled for Thursday in the Senate Agriculture Committee.
The plan was to close 713 of the 2,351 FSA offices in rural counties that connect farmers to government programs the provide payments and loans.
Locally, offices in Dickinson, Emmet and Jackson counties would have been closed under the proposal.
