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The 2023 Farm Service Agency County Committee Elections will begin Nov. 6 when ballots are mailed to eligible voters. The deadline to return ballots to local FSA offices, or to be postmarked, is Dec. 4.

County committee members are an important component of the operations of FSA and provide a link between the agricultural community and USDA.

Farmers and ranchers elected to county committees help deliver FSA programs at the local level, applying their knowledge and judgment to make decisions on commodity price support programs; conservation programs; incentive, indemnity and disaster programs for some commodities; emergency programs and eligibility.

FSA committees operate within official regulations designed to carry out federal laws.

To be an eligible voter, farmers and ranchers must:

• • Be of legal voting age or, if not of legal voting age, supervise and conduct the farming operation of an entire farm.

• • Have an interest in a farm or ranch as either:

• An individual who meets one or more of the following:

* Is eligible and capable to vote in one’s own right.

* Is a partner of a general partnership.

* Is a member of a joint venture.

• Participates or cooperates in any FSA program that is provided by law. A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information to FSA about their farming or ranching operation(s) but may not have applied or received program benefits.

Eligible voters in Local Administrative Area 3 who do not receive a ballot can obtain one from their local FSA county office. Customers can identify which LAA they or their farming operation is in by using our new GIS locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.

Newly elected committee members will take office Jan. 1, 2024.

The candidates in this year’s election are:

• Trent Furr, of Fox Branch Farms LLC, is nominated in LAA 3, Stanly County, to serve as a committee member for a three-year term. Furr resides in Oakboro and has produced wheat, corn and soybeans for more than 11 years, as a third generation Stanly County farmer.

• Jason Hazlett, is nominated in LAA 3, Stanly County, to serve as a committee member for a three-year term. Hazlett resides in Oakboro and has produced wheat, corn, cotton, soybeans, rye and straw for 20 years, carrying on farming from his grandfather in West Virginia.

• Angela McSwain, is nominated in LAA 3, Stanly County, to serve as a committee member for a three-year term. McSwain resides in Norwood and has produced cotton, soybeans and poultry with her husband, Barry, for about 30 years.

• Jeremy McSwain, of C E McSwain & Sons Inc., and Sure Grow Farms Inc, is nominated in LAA 3, Stanly County, to serve as a committee member for a three-year term. McSwain resides in Norwood and has produced corn, cotton, soybeans, broilers and cattle for 28 years, and is a multi-generational farmer. He is an active member of the Stanly County Farm Bureau and serves on the board.

More information on county committees can be found at fsa.usda.gov/elections or by contacting the County FSA office.