Staff returns to work without pay
A sign on the front of the door at the Logan County FSA office announces a temporary reopening during the partial shutdown of the federal government. (EXAMINER PHOTO | NATE SMITH)
The Logan County Farm Services Agency Office reopened Thursday and is “open temporarily” amidst a partial shutdown of the federal government to offer certain services for area agricultural producers.
The office of seven staff members at 338 County Road 11, Bellefontaine, will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, through Feb. 8 to assist with a range of programs and services including market assistance loans; non-insured crop disaster assistance; and livestock forage disaster programs.
After Feb. 11, the FSA office is scheduled to be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday only.
Additionally, staff may assist with direct and guaranteed farm operating loans, and emergency loans for farmers who already were underway with the application process when the shutdown began.
The market facilitation program, which has offered direct payments to eligible producers of soybeans and other eligible crops and livestock that were “impacted by unjustified foreign retaliatory tariffs, resulting in the loss of traditional export programs,” has been extended until Feb. 14, according to information from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Logan County FSA office has paid out more than $4 million to eligible farmers through that market facilitation initiative, said Darin Leach, Logan County FSA executive director.
Farm service agencies are an extension of the United States Department of Agriculture, which is among the federal departments closed since Dec. 21 because of the government shutdown. USDA announced recently that it would be calling back FSA employees across the country to help farmers and ranchers with necessary programs and services.
Even though the local FSA office is fully staffed, and remained steady Thursday assisting area ag producers, staff members still aren’t getting paid. Federal legislation has promised them back pay, but a second payroll period concludes this week with no direct deposit for staff.
This partial shutdown — now the longest ever — marks the first time staff has been recalled to work without pay during the furlough. The fact they have to be called back to work even before the shutdown is over shows how important the programs and services that are offered by FSA are, staff members said.
Multiple teleconferences with state and federal heads of bureaucracy provided direction on what can and cannot be provided by local FSA offices, and those programs are pretty much limited to initiatives from the 2014 farm bill, the executive director said.
However, no insight has been provided as to when the shutdown may end, staff members said.
Out of deference for the state and federal agencies and the larger negotiating process at work, local FSA staff have refrained from speaking in personal terms about the effects of the shutdown.
Still, there has been some acknowledgment of frustration with having their livelihoods hinge upon a negotiation in Washington D.C.
But the bigger issue is the farmers and producers who were having their services interrupted because of the shutdown, staff members emphasized.
Any questions about FSA programs may be directed to the Logan County FSA office, 592-8896.