2-13 IAN FSA

It seems to me that I have been calling Dick Rush, the executive director of the Idaho Farm Service Agency for almost 3 years. Dick always answers the call when it comes in. If he is out of town, his assistant Candace Moore does what she can to help give me information regarding various and sundry press releases. My point is, the folks at FSA are always available. There is a  congressional proposal to “consolidate” FSA offices which is  “politic–speak” for reducing employees. But before we get to that, let’s ask Dick exactly what it is that the  Farm Service Agency does for farmers. “We administer those federal programs both in Idaho and nationally, that are passed by Congress. Those programs include conservation, the CRP program that is very popular here in Idaho, one of the programs that has been in the news a lot lately are direct payments where we will pay farmers based on their application, there are numerous disaster assistance programs that we administer. Again we have 33 offices currently in Idaho where we have employees. Farmers can come in and sign up for those programs. As most federal programs are there is a lot of details that we need to deal with, and that is what our employees do.”