BROOKVILLE, Ohio — Five Ohio Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices are being considered for consolidation under USDA’s Blueprint for Stronger Service plan to increase departmental efficiencies.

One of these is the Montgomery County FSA office, which is being considered for consolidation with the Preble County FSA. The Montgomery County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) thinks that is a bad idea.

What is at stake is the Montgomery County FSA office, which is housed in a building owned by the Montgomery SWCD. This building also houses personnel from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“This centralization, and the convenience of having all these government services in one building, is no accident,” stated Kristen Lauer, Montgomery SWCD spokesperson, in a press release. “It was in response to a cry for efficiency and government cooperation over 10 years ago. And in this case, it has been highly successful and convenient for our customers, the taxpayers.”

In an effort to look as if it is doing something to help taxpayers, the USDA will be severely harming a system that efficiently, effectively and cooperatively helps the citizens of Montgomery County, Lauer said. The operations of the Preble FSA will be compromised as they attempt to take on new personnel and files, and the consolidated government offices of both counties will be lost, the press release added.

The Montgomery SWCD has several events planned on Jan. 30 to highlight support for keeping the Montgomery FSA office open. Citizens are invited to bring their semi, tractor or truck to join a “tractorcade,” followed by free food “to chew on while you chew over the facts,” the press release stated.

Interested people are also encouraged to contact their senators and representatives and to sign petitions located at various businesses around the county showing support for not closing the FSA office.

The USDA proposal to consolidate FSA offices is based on two criteria: that the office is located within 20 miles of another FSA office and that there are currently are only two full-time employees. The Montgomery FSA office meets those criteria, said Steven Maurer, Ohio FSA state executive director.

“With the budgets the way they are, FSA has lost one-eighth of its employees,” Maurer said. “You can’t just keep spreading yourself thinner and thinner and hope to get the job done. That is as much a part of this whole thing as the savings that might be engendered from closing an office. We have to do a good job of using the staff that we have to our and their best ability.”

For information on Montgomery County SWCD events, visit www.montgomeryswcd.org and to learn about USDA’s Blueprint for Stronger Service visit www.usda.gov/strongerservice