The government shutdown lingers on and on. Farmers who are needing to sign up for dairy programs, ARC and PLC, or for the Market Facilitation Program cannot get into their FSA offices to fill out paperwork. There?s a new Farm Bill which cannot be implemented because nobody can go to work on it. Now some FSA employees will return to work on a limited basis.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on Wednesday that 2,500 FSA employees will be returning to open offices for three days. Thursday and Friday, January 17th and 18th, and Tuesday, January 22nd.
Secretary Perdue says, “Until Congress sends President Trump an appropriations bill in the form that he will sign, we are doing our best to minimize the impact of the partial federal funding lapse on America?s agricultural producers. We are bringing back part of our FSA team to help producers with existing farm loans. Meanwhile, we continue to examine our legal authorities to ensure we are providing services to our customers to the greatest extent possible during the shutdown.?
Not only are the offices going to be open for a limited amount of days, but only a limited amount of offices will also be open. You can find a full list of offices which will be opened right here.
The services which will be available for farmers are as follows:
- Processing payments made on or before December 31, 2018.
- Continuing expiring financing statements.
- Opening mail to identify priority items.
Additionally, as an intermittent incidental duty, staff may release proceeds from the sale of loan security by signing checks jointly payable to FSA that are brought to the county office by producers.
There has been no mention of any implementation of Farm Bill programs. These programs are the assurances producers are counting on going into the 2019 growing season. Farmers can not afford any more delay, the programs are already in jeopardy of not being ready by spring planting season. Farmers are encouraged to keep contacting their elected representatives.
