By Annabeth Miller, SMT Editor
WASHINGTON – Southeast Missouri representative in the U,S, House of Representatives is critical of the moves by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to closed more than 250 offices and labs across the country, including one in Dexter.
U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson said Wednesday afternoon that a slate of USDA office closings in Missouri will reduce services to producers and communities in a major part of the region’s economy.
“These closures should be subject to a thorough review process by Congress, not strong-armed through by an administration seeking to balance its budget on the backs of rural Americans,” Emerson said. “I am a strong proponent of smaller, more efficient and more effective government, but I am also wary of any effort to reduce the presence of federal agencies charged with supporting jobs and growth in the private sectors of our economy.”
Emerson says rural communities in Southern Missouri want USDA to administer programs like Rural Development with as much first-hand knowledge of the communities they are serving as possible.
“Eliminating USDA employees in Dexter and Jackson does nothing to improve the decision-making of USDA offices in Washington DC. USDA is proposing that they consolidate their cell phone plans at their headquarters and get rid of jobs and services in the rest of the country. This nonsensical bureaucratic logic is not good enough for a federal government which must commit to real and substantive efficiencies without compromising the mission of helping rural communities grow and prosper,” Emerson said.
Emerson says the offices are valuable partners for rural communities and producers.
“The bottom line is that these local offices and their few employees each serve a crucial, cost-effective role for agricultural producers – small businesses, essentially – which make up a major proportion of our economy in Southern Missouri,” Emerson said. “Eliminating the offices leaves a gap in information for those folks and forces more of them to rely on fewer resources of the USDA. It’s downright cynical to call such a plan for action a “Blueprint for Stronger Service” – what they are talking about is eroding services to people and communities which depend on access to the information and assistance of the USDA.
The ten offices scheduled to be closed in Missouri include:
- Farm Service Agency, Hillsboro
- Farm Service Agency, Buffalo
- Farm Service Agency, Versailles
- Food & Nutrition Service, St. Louis
- Food & Nutrition Service, Kansas City
- Natural Resource Conservation Service, Dexter
- Rural Development Office, Hillsboro
- Rural Development Office, Jefferson City
- Rural Development Office, Carthage
- Rural Development Office, Jackson
