The annual election for the Farm Service Agency County Committee is coming up. The first step in the process is for qualified voters to nominate candidates. If you are qualified to vote in the county committee election, you can nominate yourself or your favorite producers to run for a seat on the committee.

The county office staff will be accepting nominations through Sept. 3. So far only one candidate has been nominated … but there is still plenty of time.

The county committee helps make national farm programs fit the needs of local producers. For example, they make decisions on price support loans, allotments and yields and disaster assistance.

Any qualified voter can nominate a producer on an FSA-669A form. Producers can also nominate themselves. Nominees must be qualified to vote in the election. They must also sign the nomination form. If elected, county committee members serve a 3-year-term. County committee members are reimbursed for mileage to attend meetings and are paid for the time they are away from their farm.

Forms are available at the county office. You can also find them online at www.fsa.usda.gov.

The Butler/Beaver/Allegheny County committee has five members. Each member is from a different Local Administrative Area (LAA). This year the election will be held in LAA-2 and LAA-4.

LAA-2 encompasses Lancaster, Muddy Creek, Center, Franklin, Donegal, Oakland, Butler, Connoquenessing, Clearfield and Summit townships in Butler County.

LAA-4 encompasses Darlington, North Sewickley, Marion, Franklin, South Beaver, Chippewa, Daugherty, Rochester, New Sewickley and Brighton townships in Beaver County.

Since the county committee serves all the producers in the county, we want to make sure the interests of all producers are represented.

Also, we would like to see more women and minority producers nominating candidates. That should also mean more women and minority producers running for a seat on the committee.

As of Jan. 1, 1999, all FSA payments are supposed to be electronically transferred into your bank account. In order to make timely payments, you need to notify the office if you close your account or if another financial institution purchases your bank.Payments may be delayed if we are not aware of changes.Recently a few producers have stopped at the office to notify us that some of these changes are occurring at Slippery Rock National Bank. Other producers should probably double-check their information.