FSA offices reopening during shutdown

Employees will be there to help release more than $3 billion in funding

Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices across the U.S. will be open to producers despite the ongoing government shutdown.

On Oct. 21, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that under President Trump’s direction, about 2,100 FSA offices would resume core operations as of Oct. 23 to support PLC and ARC payments, and process loans.

“We’ve got farmers who are working to make their payments to prepare their rental payments for their land, (and) their mortgage payments on their certain combines,” Rollins told Fox Business. “They are not able to make those without those checks coming in that they were expecting.”

In total, about $3 billion from the Commodity Credit Corporation is available to U.S. farmers.

The University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), estimates ARC payments will account for a majority of the funding.

About $1.9 billion will be for ARC, in which payments are triggered when county revenue falls below the five-year average. PLC payments, which are paid out when the average market price for a commodity drops below its reference price, will account for about $589 million, FAPRI says.

Two employees will be at the reopened offices five days per week.

Farmers are encouraged to contact their local office to confirm operating hours and receive program details.

Some producers are reporting challenging experiences so far.

“Our office has just 2 people sitting there because they can’t log on to FSA system to do anything because everyone is furloughed and system is shut down?” Texas farmer Brad Heffington said on X on Oct. 24.