Director speaks on FSA closings

| Wednesday, March 28, 2007

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The Associated Press

PIERRE — The man who proposed closing some Farm Service Agency offices in portions of South Dakota met Tuesday with people in Timber Lake and Dupree — two towns that stand to lose their offices.

“I think the major issue for most folks in their local community is the sense of their community, the identity of their community, the businesses that are there, the ... time they spend in the community in our office and in other places,” Steve Cutler, South Dakota’s Farm Service Agency state director, said after the meetings.

Under the plan, Kadoka, White River, Timber Lake, Dupree, Highmore, Woonsocket and Mound City would lose FSA offices. Eagle Butte would gain an office, consolidating the offices now in Timber Lake and Dupree.

Cutler said his plan is a belt-tightening move. He said the consolidations would better equalize the workload among FSA staff in South Dakota and would save up to $100,000.

After more public meetings, a final report will be sent to federal officials, Cutler said.

Tuesday, farmers and ranchers were worried about the extra miles they would have to drive to get to the FSA offices to complete the required paperwork for various federal farm programs, Cutler said.

“I think it’s certainly more of a sense of their community than it is even the mileage, but the mileage was an issue, too,” he said.

Those at the meetings offered comments and suggestions and asked questions about the plan, Cutler said. Many said that if the doors to their local FSA offices are closed, businesses will be hurt.

“I’m from a small town myself, and I understand the dynamics of the economies of the small town and the struggles that many small towns have,” Cutler said. “And anytime you lose any business and — or entity, you have a concern. So I understand their concern. I tried to alleviate some of their concerns ... when we talked about the employees and jobs.

“When you talk about something in theory, that’s one thing. But when you talk about specifics, of course, that’s a very different thing.”

He said his agency is working hard to make sure FSA employees can keep their jobs and live where they already live, even though they would have to drive to a neighboring town to get to work.