 One such criticism involved the attendance of Farmer and three aides at the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture's 2010 annual meeting in St. Croix at a cost of $10,000.Another involved the approval of merit raises for eleven agriculture department employees in 2010 when workers in all other state government agencies received no cost of living salary increases and were required to take six unpaid furlough days.A department spokesman said the employees had taken on responsibilities for multiple jobs left unfilled by attrition.