Carbon County farmers will have to travel to Northampton County to utilize a United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency office in the future.

According to a press release, released by the USDA earlier this week, it has made a decision to consolidate 125 FSA offices across the country as part of its Blueprint for Stronger Service plan. On the final list for consolidation is the Carbon/Monroe County FSA office.During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said he had also heard the USDA was proceeding as planned with the consolidations and the commissioners were not happy.He noted that the county officials and residents wrote letters and contacted elected officials urging the USDA to reconsider the closure; as well as attended a public meeting that was hosted by the Pennsylvania FSA Management Team.Nothstein expressed his disappointment in the decision because it will hurt farmers during their busy seasons. Currently, the Carbon office is located along Interchange Road in Lehighton.With the consolidation, farmers will now have to travel to Northampton County, which for some, will be over an hour travel time."FSA will provide farmers and ranchers affected by consolidations an opportunity to choose the most convenient neighboring county office to conduct their future business. In addition, all employees in a closing office will be provided an opportunity to continue their work with FSA," the press release stated.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard added that he was upset because they participated in the meeting, which was the best attended in the state, to voice their opposition of the closing, but it seemed it didn't matter."They had made their minds up before they even called the meeting," he said. "I think it was a waste of our time. We're really not happy about their decision."Closures are expected to begin occurring immediately but no finalized date for the Carbon closure has been officially announced.Only six FSA offices that were proposed to be consolidated successfully managed to sway the vote and show they are needed for their communities. They include Lafayette County, Ark.; Boulder County, Colo.; St. Mary Parish, La.; Pamlico County, N.C.; Mayes County, Okla.; and York County, S.C.The decision to consolidate began in 2008 after President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden launched the Administration's Campaign to Cut Waste, which called for all federal departments to look into finding ways to streamline operations and save taxpayers' money.According to the USDA press release, "The USDA followed statutory requirements provided by Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill for FSA office consolidations. Two sets of criteria were used to identify FSA offices for consolidation. First, USDA identified FSA offices located less than 20 miles from another FSA office that had two or fewer permanent, full-time employees. Additionally, the proposal included all FSA offices with zero permanent employees regardless of location."(The) FSA is striving to balance budget reductions, staff reductions, and increasing workloads while focusing the efforts of agency staff on continuing to provide high quality service from the remaining 2,119 office locations. The agency's goal is to strengthen service, notwithstanding reduced budgets and fewer workers," the press release said.For more information on the consolidation, visit

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/officeconsolidations.