U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced plans to “resume Farm Service Agency core operations” and move forward with distributing commodity program payments to farmers, despite the ongoing government shutdown.

“Thursday, USDA will resume Farm Service Agency core operations, including critical services for farm loan processing, ARC/PLC payments, and other programs,” Rollins said in a post on X.

Officials say the reopened county FSA offices will operate with limited staffing—two county-office employees, five days per week—to process payments and assist with farm-loan and commodity-program services.

The payments under the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments are for farmers who signed up for the programs in 2024. ARC and PLC payments are typically made in the October of the following year. The programs provide a financial safety net when market prices or farm revenues fall below guaranteed levels, offering vital stability during times of uncertainty in the farm economy.

The partial government shutdown has lasted for three weeks so far, forcing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to suspend most operations and agencies.

Rollins’ move to reopen FSA offices comes as Congress remains gridlocked over a federal funding measure.

Earlier this month, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) urged President Donald Trump and Congressional leaders to address the economic strain facing farmers and ranchers.

“Across the country, farms are disappearing as families close the gates on the farms tended by their parents, grandparents and generations before them,” wrote AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “Every farm lost takes with it generations of knowledge, community leadership and the heartbeat of local economies: fewer kids in schools, fewer trucks at the grain elevator, fewer small businesses that keep rural towns alive. As those farms disappear, so too does America’s food independence: our ability to feed ourselves without relying on foreign supply chains.”

Read AFBF’s full letter to the president here.