POMEROY — A Tuesday evening conference call organized by the office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown provided the opportunity for the five Ohio counties facing closure of their respective Farm Service Agency offices to discuss ideas on the topic.

An announcement was made in early January that five county FSA offices in Ohio would close. According to the proposal, the Meigs County office would combine with the Gallia/Lawrence office located in Gallipolis.

Meigs, Carroll, Clark, Montgomery and Perry county officials took part in the conference call with Brown.

Commissioners Tom Anderson, Tim Ihle and Mike Bartrum, along with former commissioner Mick Davenport, retired FSA director Dave Fox, and local trustee and farmer Chris Wolfe took part in the 50-minute call with the Washington D.C.-based Senator.

According to Ihle, each of the counties voiced their ideas on how to save their respective offices. While all counties have their own ideas on the matter, the majority have proposed a way to save the $20,000 dollars that the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) hopes to save by closing each office.

Following a community meeting held last month, the commissioners drafted a letter with a counter-proposal to the original plan to close the office. The commissioners have offered to make space available for the FSA office that would be at no cost to the USDA.

Each county also voiced concerns about the potential consequences to local farmers if the office were to move or consolidate.

While some of the services offered at local FSA office would be available online, Bartrum expressed concern about access to the online information.

Many of the farm areas in Meigs and other counties throughout the state do not have high speed Internet available and would face difficulty in retrieving the online information — therefore forcing them to drive to neighboring counties.

Another fear is that if people are forced to go out of the county for these services, they may do their shopping and other business transactions out of the county also, therefore further negatively impacting the local area.

Other counties expressed concern for the minority farmers and the Amish community which would be affected by the closures and likely could not travel out of county to receive the needed services.

Currently, the Meigs County FSA office has two employees and is without a director due to the retirement of Fox. If the office staffing levels were to be based on the workload and use by local farmers, the agency should employee four people according to the commissioners.

Ihle noted that during the Tuesday conference call, Wolfe stated that Meigs County produces around one-third of Ohio’s fresh produce.

Brown expressed to all on the call that he would check into the closing of the offices.

The Meigs County FSA office is currently located 33101 Hiland Road in Pomeroy.

Clark and Montgomery counties are in the western part of Ohio, while Perry and Carroll counties are in the eastern part of the state.