On Wednesday, the United States Department of Agriculture announced they will open select Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices for a limited period of time. In the Carroll Broadcasting listening area, these include only the Service Centers of Crawford County in Denison and Guthrie County in Guthrie Center. The offices for Buena Vista County in Storm Lake and Shelby County in Harlan were also on the list. Limited services will be available today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) as well as on Tuesday, Jan. 22 during normal business hours. The offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 21 for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. “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 agriculture producers,” says U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue. At nearly all of these locations, staff will be able to assist with existing loans and provide 1099s prior to the Jan. 31 deadline. They will also be able to help with processing payments, continuances on expiring financing statements, and on a limited basis, release proceeds from the sale of loan security by signing checks jointly payable to FSA that are brought in by producers. Most available services can be done over the phone. Farmers who have loan deadlines during the lapse in funding do not need to make payments until the government shutdown ends. More information is available through the contact points included here.
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More details:
USDA website at: https://www.usda.gov/
Twitter at: @SecretarySonny or @USDA
USDA Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/USDA/
