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Elections are occurring in certain Local
Administrative Areas (LAA) for these committee members who make
important decisions about how federal farm programs are
administered locally. To be counted, producers and landowners
must return ballots to their local FSA county office or be
postmarked by December 6, 2021.
Producers must participate or cooperate in an FSA program to be
eligible to vote in the county committee election. A cooperating
producer is someone who has provided information about their
farming or ranching operation but may not have applied or
received FSA program benefits. Also, for County Committee
elections, producers who are not of legal voting age, but
supervise and conduct the farming operations of an entire farm,
are eligible to vote.
Producers can find out if their LAA is up for election and if
they are eligible to vote by contacting their local FSA county
office. Eligible voters who do not receive a ballot in the mail
can request one from their local FSA county office. To find your
local USDA Service Center, visit farmers.gov/service-locator.
Visit fsa.usda.gov/elections for more information.
The committees can be composed of three to five members who
serve three-year terms of office, and at least one seat
representing an LAA is up for election each year. Newly elected
committee members will take office January 1, 2022.
Urban and Suburban County Committees
Ballots to elect urban committee members were sent beginning
November 1, 2021. These elections will serve local urban
producers in the same jurisdiction. A fact sheet on the urban
county committee election and a list of eligible cities can be
found at fsa.usda.gov/elections.
The 2018 Farm Bill directed USDA to form urban county committees
as well as make other advancements related to urban agriculture,
including the establishment of the Office of Urban Agriculture
and Innovative Production. Urban county committees will work to
encourage and promote urban, indoor and other emerging
agricultural production practices. Committee members will
provide outreach to ensure urban producers understand USDA
programs and serve as the voice of other urban producers.
Additionally, the new county committees may address areas such
as food access, community engagement, support of local
activities to promote and encourage community compost and food
waste reduction. Learn more at farmers.gov/urban.
[Illinois Farm Service Agency]
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