BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — DOGE is planning on closing the FSA office in Bakersfield and not renewing the lease. Without the office, local farmers will have to travel to other counties for the services they use for their crops.
- California is known to be one of the largest producing agricultural states in the county.
- Around 3000 residents in Kern County are farmers, over half of those residents use the FSA for their funds and program they offer for the farmers.
- If the FSA building in Bakersfield is closed, farmers will be forced to travel to Lancaster or Visalia for those services.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
California is one of the largest agricultural producing states in the country. Recently, DOGE announced that they are discontinuing the lease of the FSA building in Kern County. I'm Eric J. Dockery, your Bakersfield neighborhood reporter. This closure will affect over 3000 residents who produce quality ingredients for every industry nationwide.
According to the United States Trade Representative, in 2023 California produced and exported $24 billion in domestic agricultural products. And according to Valley Ag Voice Kern County alone produced close to 9 billion in domestic agriculture exports. Kern farmers produced 37% of the produce in the U-S in 2023. Half of the farmers in the county use the Farm Service Agency for services to help their crops grow, without those funds, some farmers aren't able to attend to their crops.
Rachel Nettleton Executive Director with the Kern County Farm Bureau said "
"They help provide farm loans and emergency relief funds as well. To put it into perspective of the impact that this can have on the producers. In 2022 one of the applications that was available to producers was for relief funds. 70% of those applicants came in person to be serviced and helped with their application. "
With over 50% of the producers using their local FSA Building, if closed they would have to go out of the county to either Visalia or Lancaster which are both at least a hour and a half away to two hours away from their crops or farmland.
Matt Cauzza Kern County Grower said "It's a tough time right now, and I think the FSA develops a lot of these programs that are beneficial and help a lot of the farmers out in times of need. There is a relationship that we have developed with the people that work here. They know are farms and sometimes even better than we do."
Members of the farm service agency are worried because the ending of the lease means they have to start to look for another job or even uprooting their families and having to move to another county. 23ABC reached out to Congressman Vince Fong and David Valadao they responded with the following statements that read in part.
“As we review the operations of federal agencies, I continue to work to maintain critical support for Central Valley families, especially our farmers” said Fong
“I’ve been in regular contact with the administration on the importance of maintaining a local FSA office for our farmers, and will continue to reaffirm how vital this agency is to Bakersfield and the entire Central Valley.” said Valadao
"Our Agriculture community needs as many resources as they can get. There are a lot of issues that are agriculture faces day to day. We need companies that can help provide those resources in order for our farmers to keep their doors open. Its extremely important for the farm services agency to stay open so they are getting the services and resources that they need." said Nettleton
The Kern County Farm Bureau plans to be the voice for those farmers and reach out to legislators directly for their assistance. DOGE plans to terminate the lease by August 2025, unless they find a way to keep the facility open. For 23ABC, I'm Eric J. Dockery, your Bakersfield neighborhood reporter.
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