Taking the job seriously

Hello Again!
After you read this week’s FSA Andy, you will realize that the author of this weekly column changes with the passing of every month.
To compare myself to the writer of last month, you are talking about two completely different individuals.

To begin with, I am a female Andy and last month it was a male writer. Another difference is my pets don’t kill groundhogs or any other animals. Shucks, my two cats will share their cat food with a mouse in the dead of winter and just sit there and watch.
One important feature that both last month’s writer and I have in common is we take our job at the Farm Service Agency seriously and we are always looking for opportunities to assist a farmer in need.
Well, that is within program procedure. Sometimes we have to make decisions that cannot always be understood by the producer but we are just following the procedure that is written in our handbooks. We may not always agree with it, but we still must follow it.
The loss of the county offices’ ability to issue checks has required the majority of producers to request their payments by direct deposit.
New procedure requires us to inform producers that the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 requires all federal payments be offset for all delinquent federal debt.
All payments issued by FSA beginning on Aug. 3, will be referred to the treasury department to see if an offset should be made to pay a federal debt.
The rerouting of this payment will cause a one-day delay in receipt of funds in your bank account. The treasury department will notify the payment recipient of any offsets taken for the debts due other agencies.
FSA will not receive notification of the offset. The description on your bank statement will read “FSA TREAS 310”.
While we are on the subject of direct deposits, be sure you keep your local FSA office informed of any changes in your bank account number. Failure to update a change in banking will cause a delay in receiving your payments.
And as a final note, the deadline to enroll your farms in the Direct and Counter Cyclical Program or Average Crop Revenue Election Program is Aug. 14. Call your local FSA office today to schedule an appointment if you have not already done so.
Until next month, Safety is as easy as A, B, C – Always Be Careful!
That’s all for now,
FSA Andy