KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- Each time I approach this topic of the proposed closing of the Farm Services Agency in Kalamazoo County, in my memory I can hear Andy Rooney’s querulous complaint, “This makes no sense to me at all!”

This is, of course, a part of the federal government’s effort to control the cost of government.

To me, it’s like going bear-hunting with a switch.  Worse than that, and I have figures only for the local offices and this is a nationwide plan, in the face of all the inconveniences visited upon the clients of the Kalamazoo Office, there’s actually no apparent savings.

If the plan goes forward as it was presented January 10th, FSA employees here will be reassigned elsewhere.  Those employee salaries and benefits won’t change.  Their travel costs to and from work will, of course increase.  The feds would dump the cost of rent at the Kalamazoo facility, which FSA shares with Conservation, in Centre Street near Oakland Drive in Portage.  Some of that savings would be lost, however, in dealing with the main frame computer system at the Centre street address, as NRC and FSA share that unit. 

So, most logically, either NRC would have to move its facility into the FSA space, or the main frame computer apparatus would have to be moved to NRC’s domain.  I don’t know what that might cost, but those techies don’t come cheap!

Now, what of the current clients of the Kalamazoo FSA - - well, they’d be off to the offices in Allegan, Barry, Cass, St Joseph or Van Buren County.  I haven’t measured it myself, but I’m told it’s a 50-mile round trip from the Centre street FSA office, to the next closest one.

I’ve heard no explanation as to why the Kalamazoo County office has been tagged for elimination, perhaps because somebody in Washington just arbitrarily stuck pins in maps and said, we’ll close those! 

Agriculture is the number two industry in Michigan, Kalamazoo County is the fourth most productive among the 83 counties in the state.  Every organization, association, agency, and bureaucracy should be helping Southwest Michigan, including Kalamazoo County, and not diminishing support for it.  And it’s not just farmers who benefit from FSA services.  Twelve of the top regional employers in Southwest Michigan are from the agricultural sector and are located within Kalamazoo County...Just to drop a few names you might recognize:  A.M. Todd, Kalsec, Bell’s Brewery, Lawton Ridge Winery, Kalamazoo Valley Plant Growers Co-op, Kalamazoo Flower Group, and Fabri-Kal.

Kalamazoo County is in the top 1.4% of counties NATIONWIDE in value of commodity sales, and a big part of that is nursery, greenhouse and floriculture endeavors.

These farming operations go to the Farm Services Agency for assistance in dealing with disasters (floods, fires, tornadoes), and for help with conservation programs (that’s why FSA and NRC work so well together in the Kalamazoo Office), and farm loans and grants under the federal farm bills. There are eleven FSA offices in Michigan.  These offices annually serve from 152 to 996 participants.  Kalamazoo serves the second highest number, at 579.

USDA wants to close three USDA offices, including the FSA office in Kalamazoo County. THIS MAKES NO SENSE TO ME AT ALL.

Karl Guenther is a retired Kalamazoo farm broadcaster  from WKZO and can be reached at khguenther@att.net. He is a member of Michigan Farm Bureau and an emeritus member of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting.