USDA announced it will reopen all of its Farm Service Agencies despite the ongoing government shutdown. Last week, USDA announced it would only reopen selected FSA offices, for three days and only offer select services. Now, all FSA offices will be open as of January 24 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will offer a longer list of services than previously available.
In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said, “At President Trump’s direction, we have been working to alleviate the effects of the lapse in federal funding as best we can, and we are happy to announce the reopening of FSA offices for certain services. The FSA provides vital support for farmers and ranchers and they count on those services being available. We want to offer as much assistance as possible until the partial government shutdown is resolved.”
The offices will be open Monday through Friday for the first full two weeks. The offices will then only be open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the weeks following if more services need to be conducted and the shutdown is still ongoing.
In addition to the FSA announcement, Perdue also announced farmers will be able to apply for the Market Facilitation Program payments. The original deadline was January 15 and was later extended to match the days the government was shut down. The new official deadline is now February 14.
For a list of available FSA services visit www.fsa.usda.gov/help/shutdowninfo
Danielle Leal
Multi-Media Journalist & AgNet News Hour Anchor