USDA Scraps Plan to Shut Down FSA Offices

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has scrapped a plan to close more than 700 Farm Service Agency offices around the country, including 31 in Missouri. The Agriculture Department’s so-called FSA Tomorrow plan called for roughly a third of the Farm Service Agency offices to be closed. Senator Jim Talent, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is pleased with the action, but wants assurances the idea won’t come back. Northwest Missouri Congressman Sam Graves, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, fears this is only a temporary reprieve. He says the proposal will have to fought again down the road. Talent and Graves say the FSA offices are essential because they help farmers to complete a lot of the paperwork that has to be done – leaving the farmers to concentrate on farming.