Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070140
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Federal budget cutters reached into Virginia and slashed more than half of the state's 111 Department of Agriculture field offices in a state where urbanization and roads reduced the need for many offices.
Fifty-seven of the state's branch offices would shut down under Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy's proposal to close, consolidate or relocate 1,070 offices nationwide by 1998, the USDA announced Tuesday.
Field offices in Western Virginia that are targeted for closing are in Salem, Bedford, Christiansburg, Dublin, Pulaski, Covington, Bland, Hillsville, New Castle, Floyd, Pearisburg, Collinsville and Martinsville,.
The cuts surprised Virginia political and agriculture leaders.
U.S. Rep Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, a House Agriculture Committee member, said he didn't think cutting more than half of the state's offices was fair. He said he supports restructuring, but the cuts in his state went too deep.
``Virginia is one of the largest agricultural states in the nation. ... I think this draft definitely calls for further study.''
``Half of all offices is definitely more than I had anticipated,'' said Greg Hicks, communications director for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. ``I thought maybe a third, but not a half.''
The cuts are part of a national streamlining effort that could eliminate 11,000 positions from the USDA payroll and save an estimated $3.6 billion over five years.
Espy and USDA officials say farmers will be better served when service centers for commodity programs, crop insurance, loans and some conservation programs are merged under a new Consolidated Farm Service Agency.
Virginia officials were skeptical.
``If this streamlines the situation and doesn't require a lot of sacrifice, we're all for it,'' Hicks said. ``But we have a feeling it's really going to create a difficult situation for some farmers.''
Some experts noted that many of the closures are in areas with little or no agriculture.
Jim Pease, an Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service economist at Virginia Tech, said he is not surprised that the cuts were so deep and said it may improve service.
``I don't think this will be a big setback for agriculture in Virginia,'' Pease said. ``For some producers, it will mean time and money to travel farther away, but I think it's very likely that farmers will win in the long run.''
Pease said the only major surprise was the decision to consolidate offices in Lancaster, Northumberland and Westmoreland Counties - in Virginia's grain-rich Northern Neck - into offices in Richmond County.
Virginia was among several big losers. Others were Georgia, which may lose 101 of its 193 offices; Tennessee, which loses 51 of its 123 offices; and Texas, which will be reduced from 317 locations to 219.
Espy inherited the task of closing the offices from his Republican predecessor, Ed Madigan. Madigan released a list of nearly 1,200 closings in January 1993, just days before the Bush administration left office.
Republican congressional aides said Espy's list resembled Madigan's.
by CNB