{"id":81152,"date":"2017-05-26T03:23:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T07:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=81152"},"modified":"2017-05-25T22:26:27","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T02:26:27","slug":"usda-farm-service-agency-county-committee-nomination-period-begins-june-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=81152","title":{"rendered":"USDA Farm Service Agency county committee nomination period begins June 15"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"m_3156644173859211907MsoNormalCxSpMiddle\"><a href=\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?attachment_id=62285\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-62285\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-62285\" src=\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/USDA_Logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"283\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/USDA_Logo.jpg 283w, https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/USDA_Logo-150x106.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 283px) 100vw, 283px\" \/><\/a>The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that the nomination period for local Farm Service Agency county committees begins on<span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_591319974\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday, June 15, 2017<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3156644173859211907MsoNormalCxSpMiddle\">\u201cCounty committees allow farmers and ranchers to make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally to best serve their needs,\u201d said Acting FSA Administrator Chris Beyerhelm. \u201cWe strongly encourage all eligible producers to visit their local FSA office today to find out how to get involved in their county\u2019s election. There\u2019s an increasing need for representation from underserved producers, which includes beginning, women and other minority farmers and ranchers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3156644173859211907MsoNormalCxSpMiddle\">County committees are made up of farmers and ranchers elected by other producers in their communities to guide the delivery of farm programs at the local level. Committee members play a critical<!--more--> role in the day-to-day operations of FSA. Committees consist of three to 11 members and meet once a month or as needed to make important decisions on disaster and conservation programs, emergency programs, commodity price support loan programs, county office employment and other agricultural issues. Members serve three-year terms. Nationwide there are over 7,700 farmer and ranchers serving on FSA county committees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3156644173859211907MsoNormalCxSpMiddle\">Farmers and ranchers may nominate themselves or others. Organizations, including those representing beginning, women and minority producers, may also nominate candidates to better serve their communities. To be eligible to serve on an FSA county committee, a person must participate or cooperate in an agency-administered program\u00a0and reside in the local administrative area where the election is being held.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3156644173859211907MsoNormalCxSpMiddle\">After the nomination period, candidates will encourage the eligible producers in their local administrative area to vote.\u00a0 FSA will mail election ballots to eligible voters beginning <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_591319975\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Nov. 6, 2017<\/span><\/span>. Ballots will be due back to the local county office either via mail or in person by <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_591319976\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Dec. 4, 2017<\/span><\/span>. Newly-elected committee members and alternates will take office <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_591319977\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Jan. 1, 2018<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3156644173859211907MsoNormalCxSpMiddle\">To become a candidate, an eligible individual must sign an FSA-669A nomination form. The form and other information about FSA county committee elections are available at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fsa.usda.gov\/elections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.fsa.usda.gov\/elections&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1495850805582000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEfNPM6MpFn1UriI782nuIgZfsrUQ\">www.fsa.usda.gov\/elections<\/a><a name=\"m_3156644173859211907_\"><\/a>. All nomination forms for the 2017 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_591319978\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Aug. 1, 2017<\/span><\/span>. Locate your local office at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.offices.usda.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.offices.usda.gov&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1495850805582000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGvi6Zcir4ZoNwZls4hcfoNMHjgpw\">https:\/\/offices.usda.gov<\/a> and visit to get more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that the nomination period for local Farm Service Agency county committees begins onThursday, June 15, 2017. \u201cCounty committees allow farmers and ranchers to make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally to best serve their needs,\u201d said Acting FSA Administrator Chris Beyerhelm. \u201cWe strongly encourage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23679,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agfarming","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/62285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}