County farm center escapes merger with Portage office

The state agency said it was limiting its closures.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CORTLAND -- The Ohio Farm Service Agency has decided that the county's office in the Trumbull County Agriculture and Family Education Center on Main Street will not be merged with the Orwell office.
Patty Davis, county executive director of the local office, said that news came in a letter from State Executive Director John Stevenson that said the state agency has decided to limit its closures at this time to six shared management offices in the state and not to affect the Trumbull or Portage county offices.
Shared management offices are ones in which the county executive director travels between two county offices.
Reason for decision
Davis had said that combining the Trumbull office with one in Orwell that serves Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties would have been a detriment to the farmers in the county who rely on the agency for administration of agricultural programs passed by Congress.
The Portage County office was to be merged with the Stark County office.
Farmers use the office to apply for federal programs, Davis said, noting that it employs three program technicians in addition to herself.
The consolidations were considered in a plan originally involving combination of 13 county offices to reduce the number to 59.
The proposed closing of the Cortland office produced letters from the county commissioners and planning commission in Trumbull County, and Congressman Tim Ryan, D-17, of Niles asking state FSA officials to keep the office open.
runyan@vindy.com