Farm
Service Agency County Committee Nomination Deadline Nears, NCGA
Notes
(8-26-04)
By participating on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm
Service Agency (FSA) County Committees, corn growers have an opportunity
to become more involved in agriculture policy decisions at the
local level, according to the National Corn Growers Association
(NCGA). USDA recently announced it is seeking nominations for numerous
openings on the county committees across the country. Nominations
are due to the agency by Sept. 3.
The county committees administer federal farm programs locally,
according to USDA. The three- to five-person committees review
county office operations and make decisions on how to apply federal
programs to their area.
“Committees like these give corn growers a great opportunity
to take an active role in shaping farm policy and a give us much-needed
voice in how federal actions affect our own communities and operations,” said
Ron Litterer, an Iowa corn grower and chair of NCGA’s Public
Policy Action Team. “I encourage growers to send in their
nominations for their respective county committees if they have
not already done so. The decisions made by these committees affect
both small and large operations and give farmers the chance to
implement the kinds of programs that are beneficial to their counties.”
FSA county committees make decisions on county commodity price-support
loan eligibility, establishment of allotments and yields, conservation
programs, disaster programs, employment and other farm program-related
issues.
According to USDA, individuals can nominate themselves or others
as a candidate. USDA also noted that comments on proposed reforms
to the county committee election process will be accepted until
Sept. 16. Final comments will be published once all comments have
been collected.
Information on the nominating process can be found at www.fsa.usda.gov.
Nomination forms (FSA-669A) can be obtained online at http://forms.sc.egov.usda.gov/eforms/mainservlet.
County committee ballots will be mailed to participating farmers
and ranchers Nov. 8 and must be returned to the FSA county by Dec.
6. Elected committee members and alternates will take office Jan.
1, 2005.