The Trumbull County Farm Service Agency is in its nomination phase for the annual election of a producer representative to the local FSA's three-member county committee.
The Trumbull Soil and Water Conservation District works very closely with this federal agency, which is located right next to our office at the Trumbull County Agriculture and Family Education Center in Cortland. The FSA staff work very hard supporting our agricultural industry, as I watch many of our farmers throughout the year visiting the office to report on their crops and harvests.
County committee members are a critical component of the operations of a local county FSA. Farmers who serve on FSA committees help with the decisions necessary to administer, through local staff, the farm programs passed by Congress which their county offers to serve the needs of local producers.
Trumbull County's FSA is divided into three local administrative areas. Each area is on a rotation where a new committee person is elected from one area each year. For the 2012 election, voters will be selecting someone from LAA No. 3 which covers the townships of Bazetta, Braceville, Brookfield, Howland, Hubbard, Liberty, Newton, Vienna, Warren and Weathersfield, and Lordstown village. This individual will serve a three-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2013.
Agricultural producers from one of the communities mentioned in the previous paragraph who participate or cooperate in an FSA program may be nominated for candidacy for the committee. Individuals may nominate themselves or others as candidates. Organizations representing socially disadvantaged farmers (minorities and women) and/or beginning farmers may also nominate candidates.
The deadline for nominations is Aug. 1. The election is in November and early December.
For additional details or if you need a representative to speak to your organization or clientele about the programs the FSA offers, please contact Patty Davis, the Trumbull County FSA executive director, at 330-637-2046, option 2.
Mike Wilson is the executive director of the Trumbull Soil and Water Conservation District and is an associate member of the Trumbull County Farm Bureau.