Nomination petitions are being accepted through Aug. 1 for the Farm Service Agency County Committee. Interested persons should contact FSA to request a nominating petition. Butler, Beaver and Allegheny counties are served by a five member county committee. The three county region has been divided into five different Local Administrative Areas, or LAA. This year, the election will be in LAA3, which consists of Cranberry, Jackson, Adams, Forward, Middlesex, Penn, Clinton, Jefferson, Buffalo and Winfield townships in Butler County.

Elected county committee members serve a 3-year term and can not take their positions lightly. County committee members play an important role in the local implementation of FSA programs. That is why the USDA is trying to emphasize the election and reach out to all producers, especially minority and socially disadvantaged producers, to encourage them to participate in local county committees.

Committee members are critical components in the day-to-day operations of FSA because they help deliver FSA farm programs at the local level. Farmers who serve help decide the kind of programs their counties will offer and make sure FSA agricultural programs serve the needs of local producers. Committees make decisions on commodity price support loans and payments, establish of allotments and yields, conservation programs and other issues.

Almost anyone eligible to take part in an FSA program can become a candidate. The following persons are also eligible: an owner, operator, tenant or sharecropper; a spouse listed on the property deed; the spouse of an eligible voter in a community property state; a partner is a general partnership or member of a joint venture that has an interest in a farm as an owner, operator, tenant or sharecropper; and someone who is not of legal voting age but who supervises and conducts the farming operations on an entire farm.

Individuals may nominate themselves or others as candidates. In addition, candidates can be nominated by organizations representing socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers. Nominations and elections are open to all eligible candidates and voters without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status or disability.

The committee system was first established in 1936. Today, there are more than 8,000 committee members serving 3-year terms in 2,300-plus counties nationwide, with 44 here in Pennsylvania.

Nomination forms can be obtained from local FSA offices, USDA service centers or online at http://forms.sc.egov.usda.gov/eforms/mainservlet.

Details on FSA elections can be found on a fact sheet online at www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/publications/facts/html/cocelec06.htm.