Farm
Service Agency Now Accepting Nominations for Farmers and Ranchers to
Serve on Local County Committees
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[July 08, 2023]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is
now accepting nominations for county committee members for elections
that will occur later this year. Additionally, USDA’s Farm Service
Agency (FSA) is unveiling a new GIS tool to make it easier for
producers to participate in the nomination and election processes
for county committee members, who make important decisions on how
federal farm programs are administered locally.
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All nomination forms for the 2023 election must be postmarked or
received in the local FSA office by August 1, 2023.
Elections will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA)
for members. LAAs are elective areas for FSA committees in a
single county or multi-county jurisdiction and they may include
LAAs that are focused on an urban or suburban area.
Customers can locate their LAA through a new GIS locator tool
available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.
Agricultural producers may be nominated for candidacy for the
county committee if they:
**Participate or cooperate in a USDA program; and
**Reside in the LAA that is up for election this year.
A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information
about their farming or ranching operation to FSA, even if they
have not applied or received program benefits. Individuals may
nominate themselves or others and qualifying organizations may
also nominate candidates. USDA encourages minority producers,
women and beginning farmers or ranchers to nominate, vote and
hold office.
Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the
agricultural community serve on FSA county committees. The
committees are made up of three to five members who serve
three-year terms. Committee members are vital to how FSA carries
out disaster programs, as well as conservation, commodity and
price support programs, county office employment and other
agricultural issues.
Urban and Suburban County Committees
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. FSA established county committees
specifically focused on urban agriculture. The urban county
committees will work to encourage and promote urban, indoor and
other emerging agricultural production practices.
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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.
Urban committee members are nominated and elected to serve by local
urban producers in the same jurisdiction. Urban county committee
members will provide outreach to ensure urban producers understand
USDA programs and serve as the voice of other urban producers and
assist in program implementation that support the needs of the
growing urban community.
County committees for urban agriculture are located in 17 cities
across the U.S. including Chicago.
More Information
Producers should contact their local FSA office today to register
and find out how to get involved in their county’s election,
including if their LAA is up for election this year. To be
considered, a producer must be registered and sign an
FSA-669A nomination form. Urban farmers should use an Nomination
forms and other information about FSA county committee elections are
available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.
Election ballots will be mailed to eligible voters beginning
November 6, 2023.
[Illinois / USDA - FPAC
Farm Service Agency]
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