SOUTH PARIS — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has started mailing ballots for the Farm Service Agency county committee elections to eligible farmers and ranchers across the country.
To be counted, ballots must be returned to the Oxford County FSA office or postmarked by Monday, Dec. 4.
“FSA county committee members provide valuable knowledge and judgment as decisions are made about the services we provide, including disaster and safety-net programs,” said Marcia Hall, county executive director for Oxford County, in a news release from Oxford County Farm Service Agency.
Each committee has from three to 11 elected members who serve three-year terms of office, and at least one seat is up for election each year for a certain Local Administrative Area. Newly elected committee members will take office Jan. 1. Oxford County committee members help FSA make important decisions on its commodity support programs, conservation programs, indemnity and disaster programs, emergency programs and eligibility.
Jim Pitreau has been nominated and is running in the 2023 election in LAA2, which includes Stoneham, Lovell, Waterford, Norway, Stow, Sweden, Fryeburg, Denmark, Brownfield, Porter and Hiram in Oxford County.
Pitreau is nominated to serve as a committee member for a three-year term. Pitreau resides in Fryeburg and is the C.O.O. of Green Thumb Farms. He has been involved in the day-to-day operations for 12-plus years.
Producers must participate or cooperate in an FSA program to be eligible to vote in the county committee election. 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. Also, for county committee elections, producers who are not of legal voting age, but supervise and conduct the farming operations of an entire farm, are eligible to vote.
Producers can find out if their LAA is up for election and if they are eligible to vote by contacting their local FSA county office. Customers can locate their LAA through a new GIS locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov.
Eligible voters who do not receive a ballot in the mail can request one from the Oxford County FSA office at 17 Olson Road Suite 1, South Paris, ME 04281, or call 207-743-5789.
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