Hello again:
The holidays are upon us in full swing. Christmas lights twinkling, snow on the trees, presents purchased and wrapped, and Christmas cards mailed out. As you watch the mail for last minute packages and cards from loved ones, take notice of the new county committee ballots that will be in that stack.
Misprint
The county committee election ballots mailed to producers Nov. 4 were incorrectly printed with the producer’s name and address on the back of the ballot from the national level. County committee elections must use a secret ballot so the misprinted ballots cannot be used. Destroy or recycle the misprinted ballot. If you have already voted, your ballot will be destroyed unopened.
New ballots will be mailed to producers Dec. 20. These ballots will indicate they are the corrected ballot in several places, including on the outside of the mailing, on the ballot and on the outside of the return envelope.
Deadline
The corrected ballot must be returned to the county FSA office or postmarked by Jan. 17.
All newly elected county committee members will take office Feb. 18.
County committee members are an important component of the operations of FSA and provide a link between the agricultural community and USDA.
Farmers elected to county committees help deliver FSA programs at the local level, applying their knowledge and judgment to make decisions on commodity price support programs; conservation programs; incentive indemnity and disaster programs for some commodities; emergency programs and eligibility.
FSA committees operate within official regulations designed to carry out federal laws. To be an eligible voter, farmers must participate or cooperate in an FSA program. A person who is not of legal voting age, but supervises and conducts the farming operations of an entire farm may also be eligible to vote.
Look for those ballots and get them mailed back in. Just one more envelope for the mailman to deliver during the holiday season.
That’s all for now,
FSA Andy
