The deadline for submitting nominations to the Lincoln-Franklin County USDA Farm Service Agency for the committee elections is Monday.

The organization will be hosting an informational meeting Thursday at 10 a.m. at the USDA Service Center on 1395 Johnny Johnson Drive in Brookhaven.

Executive Director Rebecca McKenzie of the Lincoln-Franklin County FSA said the organization exists to help facilitate agriculture in the area.

“Broadly, we help farmers,” she said. “We deliver federal programs on the local level.”

There are about 7,800 farmers and ranchers serving on FSA county committees nationwide, and McKenzie said agriculture is an important business in the Lincoln-Franklin area. There were over 200 applications for a livestock program in December, and there are over 80 contracts around the neighborhood for timberland.

“We have lots of different programs we administer, so we reach a lot of different areas of agriculture,” McKenzie said.

Committee members are made up of local producers who will be responsible for making decisions on price support loans and payments, acreage verification, conservation programs, incentive indemnity and disaster payments and payment eligibility.

Committee hopefuls must participate in a program administered by the FSA, be eligible to vote in a county committee election and reside in the local administrative area in which the person is a candidate.

Ballots will be mailed to eligible voters on Nov. 7, and those ballots must be returned by Dec. 5. The newly elected committee members will take office on Jan. 1, where they will serve for three years.

To become a candidate, an eligible individual must sign an FSA-669A form, which can be found at www.fsa.usda.gov/elections.