Douglas County farmers won’t need to reprogram their phones, change their address books or learn new routes to the office that dispenses their loan-deficiency payments and administers other agricultural programs on their behalf.

The Douglas County Farm Service Agency office will remain open at 1217 Biltmore Drive, Suite 100.

The Kansas Farm Service Agency announced Tuesday that USDA Secretary Mike Johanns had approved a final plan to consolidate some of the agency’s county offices in Kansas.

The Douglas County office was spared in the plan, but others – such as the Johnson County office in Olathe – will be consolidated with other centers. The existing Leavenworth/Wyandotte County office will be consolidated with the Jefferson County office in Oskaloosa, which will remain open.

“The 15-month process of conducting public meetings, receiving producer input and listening to spirited debate has resulted in a plan that makes it possible for the agency to continue outstanding customer service,” said Bill Fuller, state executive director for the agency, in a statement. “Operating with fewer staff and declining budgets are realities we are forced to face.”

In 2005, the USDA floated a plan that would have closed hundreds of offices nationwide – including at least 29 of the 103 offices in Kansas – but objections from producers and members of Congress soon scuttled that work.

Then, early last year, state agency leaders set a process in motion to come up with a scaled-back list of changes. At the time, the Kansas agency was spending $46 million a year to dispense $900 million in farm subsidies; in Douglas County, the agency was working with 3,142 producers who had shared in $3.7 million a year in payments.

The plan revealed Tuesday includes the closure of eight county offices: Johnson, in Olathe; Leavenworth/Wyandotte, in Leavenworth; Chase, in Cottonwood Falls; Comanche, in Coldwater; Elk/Chautauqua, in Howard; Geary, in Junction City; Woodson, in Yates Center; and Wabaunsee, in Alma.

The announcement did not specify a timeline for office consolidations, but did note that the process would include a four-month period – which began Tuesday – “when a number of events will occur.” Among them: letters being sent to affected producers, notifying them about where their records would be headed unless otherwise requested.

Members of current county committees will determine whether the combined offices’ committees will remain with three members, or otherwise expand to five, and then set area boundaries for election of new county committees.