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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, January 02, 2025
After a 35-day U.S. government shutdown, the longest in history, FSA employees who returned to their offices two days earlier than other government workers face a growing pile of loan applications.
President Donald Trump agreed Friday to end the five-week-old partial shutdown of USDA and other major departments and agencies, essentially bowing to demands from Democrats that the government reopen while negotiations on border security continue.
USDA will reopen all its Farm Service Agency offices on Thursday with furloughed workers providing an expanded set of services for farmers, including processing Market Facilitation Program applications.
In a series of letters, Farm Service Agency officials at the state and federal levels have been debating whether or not a consistently rough winter should make producers eligible for livestock disaster assistance programs.
The Agriculture Department is closing county Farm Service Agency offices after Friday and will suspend publication of some new reports and take others offline with the partial government shutdown set to drag into the new year.
A slow farm economy spells a downturn in demand for operating loans in much of America, despite fraying farm profits, as more farm debt moves to low-interest farmland mortgages.
Eligible producers can now sign up for "trade aid" but will need to have 2018 production records in hand before Market Facilitation Program payments can be calculated.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency says 2017 was another year of high activity in its farm loan programs, with farm families accessing nearly $6 billion in new credit, either directly or guaranteed through commercial lenders.
