Mercer FSA office to reopen temporarily

The Mercer County Farm Service Agency office in Celina is among some FSA offices nationwide that will temporarily reopen today, Friday and Tuesday to offer limited services.

While staff members will be available to offer help in person, most services can be accessed by calling the office at 419-586-3149. The Auglaize County FSA office in Wapakoneta is not slated to reopen.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture information, about 2,500 FSA employees have been recalled to staff the offices for three days. Offices will be closed on Monday in observance of the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

In almost half of the FSA locations, staff will be available to help producers with existing farm loans and provide 1099 tax documents to borrowers prior to the Internal Revenue Service's deadline.

"Until Congress sends President Trump an appropriations bill in the form that he will sign, we are doing our best to minimize the impact of the partial federal funding lapse on America's agricultural producers," said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue in a news release. "We are bringing back part of our FSA team to help producers with existing farm loans. Meanwhile, we continue to examine our legal authorities to ensure we are providing services to our customers to the greatest extent possible during the shutdown."

The partial government shutdown entered its 27th day today.

Staff will be available at the Mercer County FSA office to help producers process payments made on or before Dec. 31, continue expiring financing statements and open mail to identify priority items.

As an intermittent incidental duty, USDA says staff may release proceeds from the sale of loan security by signing checks jointly payable to the FSA that producers take to the office.
  Information on the locations of FSA offices nationwide that will be reopened during this three-day window are posted at the USDA's website at farmers.gov/sites/default/files/documents/OpenFSAServiceCenters.pdf.

Farmers who have loan deadlines during the lapse in funding do not need to make payments until the government shutdown ends.
  Services that will not be available during the reopening include but are not limited to,

• new direct or facility loans.

• new farm loan guarantees.

• new marketing assistance loans.

• new applications for Market Facilitation Program.

• certification of 2018
production for MFP payments.

• Dairy Margin Protection Program.

• disaster assistance pro-
grams, such as the Livestock Indemnity Program; the Emergency Conservation Program; the Livestock Forage Disaster Program; and the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program.

The deadline to apply for the Market Facilitation Program has been extended by the number of business days FSA offices end up being closed once the government shutdown ends. The original deadline had been Tuesday, but farmers have been unable to apply since Dec. 28 when FSA offices closed. These announced days of limited staff availability during the shutdown will not constitute days open in calculating the extension.

Producers who applied for MFP and certified their 2018 production by Dec. 28 should have received MFP payments.

MFP payments to farmers were approved by the Trump administration as emergency relief to ease the pain of U.S. farmers hurt by trade disputes with China and other countries. More information on MFP is available at farmers.gov/manage/mfp.