Farmers and ranchers who need to meet with someone at their county U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) service centers will now have to make an appointment as the offices are taking proactive measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
The Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service or any other service center agency are encouraging farmers and ranchers to call ahead to make an appointment before coming into the local service center, in part to ensure the office is open.
The agencies also noted customers must ask themselves three questions before visiting a service center. If they answer “yes” to any of the questions below, they must contact the local service center to make an appointment by phone only.
- Have you, someone living in your household, someone you have been in close or frequent contact with, or someone you are caring for been diagnosed with COVID-19 (new Coronavirus) or had any contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19?
- In the last 14 days, have you or someone living in your household, or someone you have been in close or frequent contact with, or someone you are caring for returned from, or made a travel connection through a CDC Level 3 or Level 2 country or State Department Level 3 or Level 4 country?
- Do you currently have, or have you had within the last 24 hours, any cold or flu symptoms with a fever greater than 100.4 or acute respiratory distress (e.g., shortness of breath and coughing).
If preferred, customers may contact their local service center to make arrangements to complete necessary paperwork by alternative means, such as over the phone, electronically or by mail. Find your service center’s phone number at farmers.gov/service-center-locator.
Additional online services are available to customers with an eAuth account, which provides access to the farmers.gov portal including viewing USDA farm loan information and payments and viewing and tracking certain USDA program applications and payments. Customers who do not already have an eAuth account can enroll at farmers.gov/sign-in.
Updates on service center operational status can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.
the farmers are doing there best to try to help the public with the effect of the virus effecting everyone and the ones around them. Yet farmers are working 24/7 to help stock up in everyday needs for people to help out little by little which is making a huge impact everywhere.