| The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revised the Farm Service Agency (FSA) county committee voting period, and eligible agricultural producers and private landowners across the country should receive ballots beginning the week of Jan. 5. Elections are occurring in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA) for these committee members who make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally. Producers and landowners must return ballots to their local FSA county office or have their ballots postmarked by Feb. 2, 2026, for those ballots to be counted. Newly elected members will take office on March 2, 2026. To be eligible to vote in the county committee elections, producers must participate or cooperate in a USDA program and be assigned to the LAA that is up for election. Each year, at least one LAA in each COC jurisdiction is up for election on a three-year rotation, and each producer is assigned to vote in a single LAA. A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information about their farming or ranching operation to FSA, even if they have not applied or received program benefits. For purposes of FSA county committee elections, every member of an American Indian tribe is considered an agricultural landowner if the land on which the tribal member's voting eligibility is based is tribally owned or held in trust by the U.S. for the tribe, even if the individual does not personally produce a commodity on that land. Tribal agricultural landowners 18 years and older can contact their local FSA county office to register to vote. Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the agriculture community serve on FSA county committees. The committees are comprised of three to 11 members who serve three-year terms. Committee members play a key role in how FSA delivers disaster recovery, safety-net, conservation, commodity and price support programs, as well as making decisions on county office employment and other agricultural issues. Ballots must be postmarked or delivered in person to the local FSA office by close of business Feb. 2, 2026, to be counted. Newly elected committee members will take office March 2, 2026. Producers can identify LAAs up for election through a geographic information system locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov/elections and may confirm their LAA by contacting their local FSA office. Eligible voters who do not receive a ballot in the mail can request one from their local FSA county office. Visit fsa.usda.gov/elections for more information on county committee elections. To learn more about FSA programs, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center. The new customer kiosks from USDA's Farm Service Agency are available at every county office nationwide. These kiosks help to streamline your visit to your local county office and easily access a variety of features such as signing FSA documents, utilizing the Loan Assistance Tool, browsing USDA programs, accessing the internet, accessing necessary personal information, and signing up for a Login.gov account, which provides access to farmers.gov level two features and other USDA and U.S. Government web resources. Future kiosk functionality enhancements include a customer check-in application, self-service option for FSA program applications and documents, financial inquiries and more. Learn more about how FSA is modernizing our customer experience here. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) offers two types of set-aside programs to assist FSA direct loan borrowers. The set-aside programs are intended to help distressed borrowers as well as borrowers impacted by natural disasters. Disaster Set-Aside Program The Disaster Set-Aside Program (DSA) assists existing FSA direct loan borrowers who have been impacted by natural disasters. The DSA program provides short-term financial relief by allowing eligible borrowers to delay FSA direct loan payments that are due this year or next year (but not both). You may delay up to one full annual payment per loan and the delayed payment will be moved to the end of the loan term. You will not be required to pay this set-aside installment until the loan's final due date. The principal portion of the amount set-aside will continue to accrue interest at your loan's existing interest rate. To be eligible, borrowers must have operated a farm in a county declared a disaster area or a contiguous county at the time of the disaster. In addition, the borrower's inability to make their upcoming payment must be due to the disaster. To apply for DSA, borrowers must provide their local USDA Service Center with a letter requesting DSA, which must be signed by all parties liable for the debt. The letter must be provided to your local Service Center within eight months of the disaster declaration date. The application process also includes providing your actual production, income, and expense records for the last three years. FSA may also request additional information as needed to make an eligibility decision. Below is a list of the current disaster designations in your area and their respective application deadlines: -Currently there are no available designations for St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John Distressed Borrower Set-Aside Program FSA Direct Farm Loan Program borrowers whose loans were closed before Sept. 25, 2024, may be eligible for assistance under the Distressed Borrower Set-Aside Program (DBSA). Similar to DSA, DBSA also provides short-term financial relief by allowing eligible borrowers to delay FSA direct loan payments that are due this year or next year (but not both). You may delay up to one full annual payment per loan and the delayed payment will be moved to the end of the loan term. You will not be required to pay this //set-aside installment until the loan's final due date. An increased benefit with DBSA is that the principal portion of the set-aside will accrue interest at a reduced rate of 0.125% rather than your loan's existing interest rate. To be eligible for DBSA, the borrower must demonstrate financial distress, but their inability to make the upcoming payment does not need to be due to a disaster. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) established a national Jan. 15, 2026, batching deadline for the first funding round of key conservation programs. This national batching date ensures producers have a clear, consistent timeline for participating in Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). This includes NRCS' new Regenerative Pilot Program, which provides targeted Farmer First assistance through EQIP and CSP. NRCS programs are continuous sign-up programs, but due to the government shutdown, the agency is implementing an initial national batching period to ensure producers have access to funding and support. Read full article. Major weather events leave damage and destruction in their wake, and often financial and tax records are lost. In the second part of an Ask the Expert series on taxes and dealing with disasters, Dr. Tamara Cushing provides tips for reconstructing records after a disaster. Dr. Cushing is an Extension Forest Business Specialist from the University of Florida, working in the area of taxation. Learn more about record keeping after disasters. Sarah Campbell is the National Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coordinator for USDA. In this Ask the Expert, Sarah answers questions about common misconceptions about beginning farmer and rancher eligibility, available programs to help and how to chart your path as a beginning farmer. Learn more about beginning farmers and ranchers. | 
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