|
 These
committees make important decisions about how federal farm
programs are administered locally. All nomination forms for the
2024 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA
office by August 1, 2024.
Elections for committee members will occur in certain Local
Administrative Areas (LAA). LAAs are elective areas for FSA
committees in a single county or multi-county jurisdiction and
may include LAAs that are focused on an urban or suburban area.
Customers can locate their LAA through a geographic information
system locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov/elections and
determine if their LAA is up for election by contacting their
local FSA office.
Agricultural producers may be nominated for candidacy for the
county committee if they:
Participate or cooperate in a USDA program.
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, women, urban 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 recovery, conservation, commodity and price support
programs, as well as making decisions on county office
employment and other agricultural issues.
Urban and Suburban County Committees
The 2018 Farm Bill directed USDA to form Urban County Committees
and 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 that work to encourage
and promote urban, indoor and other emerging agricultural
production practices.
[to top of second column] |
Additionally, the county committees may address 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 provide outreach to ensure urban producers
understand USDA programs, serve as the voice of other urban
producers and assist in program implementation that support the
needs of the growing urban community.
The 27 cities with urban county committees are listed at
fsa.usda.gov/elections and farmers.gov/urban. Of these, ten urban
county committees will hold an inaugural election this cycle.
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. This form and other information about FSA
County Committee elections are available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.
All nomination forms for the 2024 election must be postmarked or
received in the local USDA Service Center by the August 1, 2024,
deadline. Election ballots will be mailed to eligible voters in
November 2024.
[Illinois / USDA-FPAC
Farm Service Agency] |
