The USDA Farm Service Agency is made up of staff as well as committees.
Grundy County FSA Director Curtis Crawford explains the structure of the committees. He says all USDA FSA offices all have county committees, which is broken into administrative areas. The administrative areas depend on volume, the number of producers, and farms throughout the county.
Crawford notes that Grundy County has three local administrative areas that are broken down by townships.
Area 1 encompasses townships on the west side of the county: Washington, Harrison, Taylor, Madison, and Jefferson.
Area 2 covers the central townships of the county: Franklin, Lincoln, Trenton, and Jackson.
Area 3 encompasses the east side townships of Myers, Liberty, Marion, and Wilson.
Crawford says there is also an advisor for the committees to represent underserved groups.
He explains that an election is held in an administrative area each year, and members serve a three-year term.
Candidates must participate or cooperating in FSA programs to be eligible and the nomination period opens in mid-June and closes August 1. Crawford says Area 1 is up for election this year. Nomination forms can be found at the FSA office or online.
Crawford adds that ballots will be mailed November 6th and must be returned by December 4th. He says ballots will be counted within a week, and the new member takes the position January 1st.
Crawford explained some of the duties of the committee include administering disaster programs and making requests, reviewing production records and yields for the county, approving facility loans, and hearing appeals
He adds that the committee also hires the county director.
