USDA drops plans to close offices

The Agriculture Department is abandoning plans to close more than 700 local Farm Service Agency offices across the country because of widespread opposition in Congress, an official said Tuesday.

A hearing on the closures had been scheduled for Thursday in the Senate Agriculture Committee. But in a letter sent Tuesday to Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Agriculture Department undersecretary J.B Penn said the agency was scrapping the plan.

The plan was to close 713 of the 2,351 FSA offices. The Farm Service Agency has a Douglas County office at 1217 Biltmore Drive in Lawrence.