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Washington - U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey (NY-22) today announced that he has written to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, urging reconsideration of a restructuring plan that would negatively affect Tompkins County. A proposal has been made to consolidate services in the FSA office in Cortland County.
"The proposal currently on the table seems illogical to me," said Hinchey. "Instead of providing services in an area central to residents in Cortland, Schuyler and Tompkins counties, this plan would place a hardship on two of the counties, necessitating additional travel to obtain FSA services. Alternative plans that have been suggested would be similarly unworkable and inefficient. It's unfortunate that misguided federal budget cuts have made decisions like this necessary. I'm going to keep working to ensure that FSA service in Tompkins County is not diminished."
Hinchey wrote to FSA's State Executive Director Ron Robbins on Monday, expressing concern about the proposal to have the Cortland office absorb the services now provided by the FSA office in Tompkins. Hinchey pointed out the logic of centralizing services in Tompkins County since it lies between Schuyler and Cortland counties. He also described an alternative plan to eliminate FSA service in Tompkins County and divide the county into two separate service areas as potentially "confusing and troublesome for farmers, while creating administrative encumbrances for ongoing work between FSA, the Tompkins County Soil and Water District, and the Natural Resources and Conservation Service."
The Farm Service Agency's mission is to stabilize farm income, help farmers conserve land and water resources, provide credit to new or disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, and help farm operations recover from the effects of disaster. The agency prides itself on its grassroots approach and its accessibility to farmers at the local level. FSA's budget was cut by $70 million last year. This year it is slated for an additional $80 million cut. |
