By Carol McIntire
Editor
February 2, 2012
 About 70 Carroll County farmers gathered in the Sr. Friendship Center at the county fairgrounds Thursday afternoon to express their reasons for keeping the county Farm Service Agency (FSA) open.
Carroll County’s office is included in a list of five slated for closure and consolidation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Steve Maurer, state FSA director, said the Carroll County office is slated for closure because it sets criteria set forth by legislation and one criteria added by FSA. The office is located within 20 miles of another office and has no permanent full-time employees.
Attendees at the meeting noted that, by the government’s own acknowledgement, the office is located over 20 miles from the Tuscarawas County office, where county farmers will be asked to travel for business.
They also said the local office does not have a full time permanent employee because three days before the temporary full-time employee was to become permanent, a hiring freeze was enacted.
In their comments during the public hearing on the closure, farmers struggled to understand why the office was to close when in fact Carrollton is 26 miles (or a 45 minute drive) from New Philadelphia and the office actually has two employees who work full time.
Some accused the government of “setting up Carroll County for closure” after the office was successfully saved from closure just a few years ago.
Many spoke of the need for the office to remain in the county. County farmers, they noted, have much smaller fields than those in the western part of the state, and produce varied crops so they have a greater need for FSA office.
Maurer promised those in attendance he would carry their “passion” to the federal level, where the final decision on closure of the office will be made. |
