Ag Policy Blog

Farmers should be able to check with their local Farm Service Agency office on Thursday if they have any specific business related to certain programs.

A USDA spokesperson issued a statement to DTN that read similar to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins' social media post from Tuesday.

"President Trump will not let the radical left Democrat shutdown impact critical USDA services while harvest is underway across the country. Thursday, USDA will resume Farm Service Agency core operations, including critical services for farm loan processing, ARC/PLC payments, and other programs. President Trump is committed to supporting America's farmers and ranchers and this action will release over $3 billion in assistance for farmers that Democrats in Congress have held up for over 20 days."

According to USDA, County offices will be staffed by two county office employees, five days a week.

Staff will perform normal functions for Commodity Credit Corp.-funded programs while accepting information such as taking applications related to programs funded by alternative sources.

"Secretary Rollins is reopening county FSA offices, so farmers once again have access to core USDA services like farm loan processing, ARC/PLC, and disaster relief payments."

The statement again criticized Democrats for shutting down the government. "While 'every day gets better' for the radical left Democrats during the shutdown, farmers have had to juggle running their businesses during harvest without the services USDA normally provides."

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., posted on social media that all FSA offices in his state would be open with limited staff available. Two employees will be in the office processing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) payments and offering Marketing Assistance Loans.

Employees who are authorized to endorse checks will be available daily but for very limited time due to funding constraints caused by the government shutdown, Rounds stated.

"The FSA is encouraging producers to contact their local county office to find out when checks can be endorsed before coming into the office. We understand that this is not a perfect solution, but we are hoping it offers some relief for producers during this government shutdown," Rounds posted.

Rounds also added, "Please be patient with the FSA staff and thank them for working during this difficult time. They are working without a paycheck and have also endured financial stress during this government shutdown."

Other lawmakers and their staffs praised the reopened offices while also taking time to snipe at each other over the shutdown.

From the House Agriculture Committee majority Republicans on X, "We are thankful for President Trump's support for our farmers by reopening FSA offices--but don't forget that he stepped up because Democrats have refused to come to the table.

"Senate Democrats have voted 11 times to keep the government shut down. Will today be the 12th?"

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee said she supported the decision by Rollins to partially reopen Farm Service Agency offices "after keeping them closed for 21 days due to the Republican government shutdown."

"I am glad the administration is finally doing right by America's farmers by partially opening FSA offices, though I question why the administration waited so long and made this decision only after putting farmers through three weeks of uncertainty," Craig said. "Now it's time they do right by seniors, children and veterans and utilize the SNAP contingency fund to ensure benefits can be provided for November."

With FSA offices reopening, it also might be worth seeing if a Marketing Assistance Loan would be a benefit this harvest. See "Marketing Assistance Loans Could Provide a Cash Flow Option When FSA Offices Reopen," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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