New York House Members Call On Farm Service Agency To Cease All Office Closure Activities

Press Release

In an effort to keep open all U.S. Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices in New York to assist state farmers, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today led a group of 15 New York House members in calling on FSA Administrator Teresa M. Lasseter to cease all office closure activities in New York. The House members were responding to a recently announced FSA plan to close eight of the state's 43 county offices.

This year, Congress learned about significant technological problems FSA employees have encountered in attempting to help farmers. FSA officials informed Congress that the agency's 1980's-era mainframe computer is insufficient to handle the demands of 45,000 FSA computer workstations across the country. The USDA, which the FSA is under, has estimated it would take three years to build a computer system to handle the agency's demands.

The FSA is currently in the process of holding public hearings on its proposal to close county offices throughout New York and elsewhere. The closure plan was set forward by Congress two years ago. However, Hinchey and his New York colleagues noted to Lasseter that Congress is working on several pieces of legislation that would halt the closure process. In light of that pending legislation in Congress, the New York House members asked Lasseter to put the closure process on hold for the time being.

"We are very concerned that FSA office closings in New York without much-needed infrastructure reform nationwide would have an immediate and negative impact upon our constituents. We have difficulty understanding how your agency will be better equipped to assist farmers if it closes facilities while failing to equip remaining offices with the technology upgrades they would need to assist farmers left out of immediate reach," Hinchey and the 14 other New York House members wrote in a letter sent to Lasseter today. "Given the clear state of transition in which the FSA finds itself, it is difficult to understand how an office consolidation plan at this stage is in the best interests of either the agency or the farmers that the institution claims to serve. Therefore, we strongly believe that the Farm Service Agency should cease all current closure activities, and we hope that your agency will discontinue all such efforts in New York State immediately."

Earlier this week, Hinchey submitted formal comments to the FSA in opposition to the agency's proposed closure of its Sullivan County office.

The 14 other New York House members joining Hinchey in sending the letter to Lasseter were: Michael Arcuri (D), Tim Bishop (D), Eliot Engel (D), Kirsten Gillibrand (D), John Hall (D), Brian Higgins (D), Steve Israel (D), Randy Kuhl (R), Nita Lowey (D), Carolyn Maloney (D), Carolyn McCarthy (D), Michael McNulty (D), Jose Serrano (D), and Jim Walsh (R).

The full text of the letter from the 15 New York House members to FSA Administrator Lasseter follows:

August 30, 2007

Ms. Teresa M. Lasseter, Administrator
Farm Service Agency
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C. 20250

Dear Ms. Lasseter:

In recent weeks, we have learned that the Farm Service Agency's Executive Director for New York, Brymer Humphreys, has developed a plan to close eight of our state's 43 FSA county offices. Mr. Humphreys and his staff have since been conducting meetings with our constituents to discuss the merits of his plan, as well as the impact that such closures will have on farms in the state. While we strongly support the excellent work conducted on behalf of New Yorkers by Mr. Humphreys and his able staff, we are dismayed that they have been forced to conduct this exercise by the FSA Washington office.

Since the beginning of this year, Congress has learned much about the significant infrastructure obstacles that FSA employees have encountered in attempting to assist constituents. Mark Keenum, the Department of Agriculture's Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, has testified that the Administration's 1980's-era mainframe computer is not sufficient to handle the information of 45,000 FSA computer workstations located across the country. USDA Secretary Mike Johanns has further testified that it will take three years for the FSA to build a proper computer system for agency employees.

We are very concerned that FSA office closings in New York without much-needed infrastructure reform nationwide would have an immediate and negative impact upon our constituents. We have difficulty understanding how your agency will be better equipped to assist farmers if it closes facilities while failing to equip remaining offices with the technology upgrades they would need to assist farmers left out of immediate reach.

In addition, while we recognize that the Farm Service Agency is carrying out its office closures under a notification system that was set forward by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Act, the landscape under which the closures are taking place has shifted considerably since that time. That is why we support efforts by House authorizing and appropriating committees to delay further office closures through language in the Farm Bill reauthorization and in the Fiscal Year 2008 Agriculture Appropriations Bill.

Given the clear state of transition in which the FSA finds itself, it is difficult to understand how an office consolidation plan at this stage is in the best interests of either the agency or the farmers that the institution claims to serve. Therefore, we strongly believe that the Farm Service Agency should cease all current closure activities, and we hope that your agency will discontinue all such efforts in New York State immediately.

Thank you for your consideration of our request. We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
Fifteen New York House Members