Washington  – Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee ,says  after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will bring back Farm Service Agency (FSA) staff Thursday and Friday, January 17-18, as well as Tuesday January 22, to provide essential services, including servicing existing direct loans, while negotiations continue to reach agreement on funding the government and border security.

FSA offices in Bottineau, Carson, Cavalier, Devils Lake, Dickinson, Fargo, Grand Forks, Hillsboro, Jamestown, LaMoure, Langdon, Linton, Mandan, Minot, Mott, Park River, Selfridge, Towner and Williston will open on January 17-18 and January 22 to provide essential services, including limited farm loans-related services to producers. FSA staff will provide essential services.

Last week, the senator spoke with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to outline the importance of USDA loan programs and urged him to mitigate impacts on the state’s farmers and ranchers during the partial government shutdown. Hoeven also met with North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring to discuss the issue.

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) issued the following statement regarding U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s announcement that Farm Service Agency offices will re-open on January 17, 18, and 22 during the partial government shutdown:

“USDA temporarily re-opening its Farm Service Agency offices is great news and should give North Dakota’s farmers and ranchers the opportunity to receive assistance with time-sensitive matters. Secretary Perdue has done an excellent job ensuring the shutdown’s impact on our agricultural community is as minimal as possible, even as Democrats refuse to negotiate with President Trump.”

These open offices will now be able process payments, continue expiring financial statement, open mail to identify priority items, provide producers with time-sensitive tax documents, and potentially release proceeds from the sale of loan security by signing checks, jointly payable to FSA, that are brought to the county office by producers.  USDA’s full announcement and a link to the now re-open offices is available here.