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Escambia County Takes Stance Against Closing Molino FSA Office
February 5, 2012
Escambia County is officially speaking out in opposition to the federal government’s plan to close the USDA Farm Services Agency Office in Molino.
The Escambia County Commission has passed a resolution against the closing at the urging of Kevin White, who represents District 5 including Molino.
“The Escambia County FSA office is a vital resource to address the claims and concerns of citizens in Escambia County,” the county’s resolution states.
On January 9, the USDA announced the closure of their Molino office, the only Farm Service Agency Office in the North Escambia area on the list. The Santa Rosa County office in Milton and the Escambia County (Ala.) Office in Brewton will remain open.
The USDA has proposed to streamline operations and decrease costs under a plan that includes the consolidation of 131 county FSA offices in 32 states, including six in Florida. Many of the offices slated for closure, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, have a very small staff and are located within 20 miles of other USDA offices. In other cases, he said, technology improvements, advanced service centers, and broadband service have reduced some need for brick and mortar facilities.
The Molino FSA Office administers farm commodities, crop insurance, credit, environmental conservation and emergency assistance for farmers and ranchers in Escambia County.
Click here to read a full copy of the resolution.
Escambia County’s resolution will be forwarded to Senator Marco Rubio; Senator Bill Nelson; Congressman Jeff Miller; Tony Jackson, director, USDA Farm Service Agency; Timothy Manning, executive director, Florida State Farm Service Agency; and Jeff Barber, District 1 director, Florida State Farm Service Agency.
Last week, dozens of farmers and producers gather in a meeting to speak out against closing the service center. To read more, click here.
Comments
11 Responses to “Escambia County Takes Stance Against Closing Molino FSA Office”
>>>Read it three times and still missed it,
Not a problem. I had to go reread it myself to make sure it was in there.
Read it three times and still missed it, my apologies to you William
>>I respectfully disagree William, but nowhere in the previous article did you say it was the third busiest in the state
It’s in there.
Fifth paragraph of the linked article.
“We all understand that government must be a good steward of our tax money,” Escambia County Property Appraiser Chris Jones said. Jones, a timber producer in Escambia County, pointed out that the Escambia County FSA office was the third busiest payment office in the state. “Sometimes you have to weigh those dollars against those that fund it…to put the human factor in it.”
I respectfully disagree William, but nowhere in the previous article did you say it was the third busiest in the state, that is in total program dollars. Out of 30 + county offices, they are closing the 3rd busiest.
Amazing that the government would contract the 3rd busiest office in the state, when you have so many more offices that do less with more.
Thanks for running with this story thou, once again you showed why you are 100 times better than that paper in pensacola.
>>>What the article doesnt state is the office in Molino is the third largest in the state, behind Jackson County and Santa Rosa County. Since the Escambia office has only two employees, that makes it the busiest office in the state in terms of staff/customers.
That info was in an article published Thursday. That, along with a lot of other good info about the office, is in the link at the bottom of today’s story.
What the article doesnt state is the office in Molino is the third largest in the state, behind Jackson County and Santa Rosa County. Since the Escambia office has only two employees, that makes it the busiest office in the state in terms of staff/customers..
Typical Federal Govt to want to eliminate efficiency..
For those who complain about payments to farmers, try to remember that the next time you put anything in your month from a PBJ sandwich to a T- Bone Steak. With out programs to support farmers prices for food would not be the cheapest in the WORLD.. The system is not perfect but it is far from the worst government program in the nation.
If the county wants to sound off on this, then the county needs to fund it.
>>Is this bldg. closing completly down? aren’t there other agencies in the bldg as well?Farm Bureau Insurance is located in this bldg. will they relocate?
The building is still open. It’s owned by the Farm Bureau and their are other agencies in the building like NRCS and the Escambia County Tax Collector. The Farm Bureau rents the space to the other agencies, including FSA.
(If you’ll follow the link in the story above, you can learn a bit more about the rental of the building)
Is this bldg. closing completly down? aren’t there other agencies in the bldg as well?Farm Bureau Insurance is located in this bldg. will they relocate?
Email the people listed above if you don’t want this facility closed. It’s good these are listed so we know who to contact!
If you don’t want this facility closed, you need to send emails and letters and make phone calls to the offices and the representatives and senators listed above. Don’t just sit back and accept this without a fight. The reason our government does things we don’t like is because no one lets the government know what we want. Apathy is the death of responsiveness to the people from our government.