In early November, ballots were mailed out for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) county and urban county committee elections to all eligible agricultural producers and private landowners across the country.
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. Producers and landowners must return ballots to their local FSA county office or have their ballots be postmarked by Dec. 5, 2022, in order for those ballots to be counted.
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. Additionally, producers who are not of legal voting age but supervise and conduct farming operations for an entire farm are eligible to vote in these elections.
Each committee has from three to 11 elected members who serve three-year terms, and at least one seat representing an LAA is up for election each year. Ballots must in the mail or delivered in person by close of business Dec. 5, 2022, to be counted. Newly elected committee members will take office Jan. 1, 2023.
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. Visit farmers.gov/service-locator to find your local USDA Service Center and fsa.usda.gov/elections for more information.
Urban and Suburban County Committees
The 2018 Farm Bill directed USDA to establish county committees specifically focused on urban agriculture.
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.
Urban and suburban county committees in the following cities will hold elections this year: Phoenix, Atlanta, New Orleans, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Portland, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Richmond. 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.
Over the summer, USDA announced six new urban county committees in Chicago, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Los Angeles, New York City, and Oakland. The nomination period for these locations began Oct. 21 and will end on Dec. 2, 2022. Elections will be held from Jan. 3 through Jan. 31, 2023. Learn more at farmers.gov/urban.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is offering its final virtual workshop – on Dec. 13 – for agricultural producers and stakeholders to learn about the latest updates and improvements to the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and the Micro Farm insurance options, two of the most comprehensive risk management options available. These insurance options are especially important to specialty crop, organic, urban, and direct market producers, and this is part of the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) efforts to increase participation in these options and crop insurance overall.
RMA will host this workshop for agricultural producers via Microsoft Teams events:
RSVP is not required. Attendees will have a chance to submit written questions during the event.
Learn more.
USDA and our partners are offering a series of webinars for producers on the tax impacts of debt relief. The USDA-funded Agricultural Financial, Tax and Asset Protection (AgFTAP) project has organized two free webinars December 1 and 2 focused on the tax implications of debt forgiveness and potential strategies to reduce the taxes due. Producers can also join USDA and tax experts on Wednesday, December 21, at 3 p.m. Eastern for a free webinar about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), particularly tax consequences for program assistance as well as tax and farm management methods for producers to consider.
The IRA, signed in August 2022 by President Biden, provided $3.1 billion for USDA to provide relief for distressed borrowers with certain Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct and guaranteed loans and to expedite assistance for those whose agricultural operations are at financial risk.
USDA has allocated up to $1.3 billion for initial steps to help distressed borrowers. This includes both automatic and case-by-case assistance. Recipients of this initial assistance will receive an Internal Revenue Service Tax Form 1099-G from FSA if they receive payments of $600 or more, which are subject to Federal and State Income Taxes. USDA is partnering with the University of Arkansas (agftap.org), the National Farm Income Tax Extension Committee (ruraltax.org) and other partners to develop and deliver taxpayer education. Producers can visit farmers.gov/taxes and ruraltax.org to access educational resources on ag taxes as well as agftap.org to see online and in person ag tax trainings being offered nationwide and in their community.
Register for the December 21 webinar here.
Additionally, the University of Arkansas in partnership with the University of Minnesota and Tax Extension committee has organized December 1 and 2 workshops on tax planning for producers receiving debt relief.
Learn more about the December 1 and 2 workshops here.
FSA National Outreach Office (OO)
1400 Independence Ave SW Stop 0511 Rm 3086
Washington, DC 20250-0511
FSA Outreach Webpage
Linda Cronin, Outreach Director Email: fsaoutreach@usda.gov
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