FSA Farmer Fallout? Vaccine Mandate Pegs All Personnel, Including Elected County Committee Members

As employers across the country continue to weigh vaccine mandates, the White House’s executive order signed in early September will require all USDA employees to be vaccinated by Nov. 22. The mandate impacts those based in Washington, D.C., as well as county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices and employees, including elected county committee members who are paid.

According to a letter sent to all FSA county committee and state board members, the vaccination requirement “includes all FSA state and county committee members and advisors, subject to such exemptions only as required by law.” The letter, signed by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, states USDA employees will be required to reveal more information about vaccine status, including proof of vaccination, with full vaccination status reached by Nov. 22, 2021.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, recently spoke to AgriTalk’s Chip Flory about that mandate.

“Nov. 22, federal employees have to at that point be fully immunized,” Collins told Flory. “Which means they had to get started well before that to get the two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna or the one dose of J&J. I run an organization with 45,000 federal employees and contractors, and we’ve let them know it’s time to get started so by Nov. 22 you can show your evidence of full coverage.”

The letter stated that timeline, saying Oct. 11 is when employees will need to have their first Moderna vaccine dose and Oct. 18 for Pfizer.

Elected Committee Members Weigh Their Decision

As farmers who serve as elected county committee members weigh their decisions, Farm Journal talked to a handful of those members who asked to speak anonymously. All said the financial piece isn’t a factor, like it is for full-time FSA employees. Currently, elected county committee positions receive just over $20 a month. Typically, those positions are also reimbursed for mileage, but some FSA county committees haven’t met in person since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic 18 months ago.

One county committee member in Iowa says two of the committee members he serves alongside aren’t vaccinated, with only one currently vaccinated. The other is undecided, waiting to see what exemptions are accepted.

In central Illinois, Rory Rincker, a farmer who currently serves as the chairman of his FSA county committee, is still undecided. With seven years of a nine-year term already under his belt, and no current plans to get vaccinated due to already having COVID-19 and natural immunity, he is still trying to decide what to do. His concerns extend broader than the committee, though, as he says he’s afraid FSA will lose valuable office staff due to the vaccine requirement. “I have spoken to a couple of full-time employees, and they’ve voiced their concerns about it in our general conversations,” Rincker says. “A couple of those individuals have said they are simply not going to get the vaccination; they are choosing to step away. I also spoke to FSA staff who weren’t vaccinated but went ahead and got vaccinated just because they want to keep their job. My fear is we [FSA] are going to lose good people because it’s forcing them to walk away.”

While county FSA committee elected officials are required to be vaccinated by Nov. 22, elected officials in Congress are not required to be vaccinated under Biden’s Executive Order. That’s because the Senate and House of Representatives fall under the legislative branch, whereas USDA and FSA are under the executive branch, which is impacted by the executive order.

Vilsack Responds

During a hearing at the House Ag Committee Thursday, Vilsack was pressed on the issue. He told the committee the Biden administration's vaccine mandate will not cause FSA offices to close or impact the service farmers receive.

Rep. Vicki Hartzler (R-Mo.) voiced her concerns, telling Vilsack she fears the reluctance of some employees to be vaccinated might cause FSA offices to close or to provide reduced services to farmers.

“There's the thinking that many USDA offices will have to close because individuals just do not feel comfortable, for whatever reason, in taking the vaccine,” Hartzler said when speaking to Vilsack. “I was hoping that you would be open to allowing for some exemptions of these mandates, if the individuals already have antibodies in their system, or if they did other precautions, rather than having these offices closed. If our farmers don’t have access to the services, are you open to setting up some sort of an exemption service to keep them open and allow the workers to continue to come if the officers are going to close, or if it's going to significantly hamper the operations?

Vilsack’s answer: “Well, there are provisions in the proposal for religious exemptions and for health exemptions, and so we will certainly respect those. I would anticipate and expect we will do what we need to do to keep offices open at the end of the day. We don’t want to necessarily reduce the service to people who need the service. So, I don’t anticipate we’re actually going to see a significant number of closed offices that would significantly reduce our capacity to serve farmers and ranchers in your state and other states.”

Full-time FSA employees have until mid-October to file for “reasonable accommodations,” which include religious or medical exemptions. However, one executive director at the county level told Farm Journal it’s not clear what type of exemptions will be accepted, but those filings will take place in the next two weeks.

While Vilsack told the House Ag Committee this week he doesn’t foresee staffing shortages due to the mandate, in late August, Vilsack participated in a Farm Journal Town Hall. AgDay Host and Farm Journal Editor Clinton Griffiths asked about the implementation of programs to help producers who suffered financial losses during the pandemic. Vilsack pointed out the FSA staff at the ground level is already facing a situation where staffing is in shorter supply than five years ago.

“When we came into this situation, we faced a USDA, as was the case, I think with a number of other federal government agencies and departments, where we had significant fewer people than we had last time I was Secretary,” he said. “I think there were 3,000 to 4,000 fewer people working in USDA. So, at the same time, we’re trying to get these resources out the door and do all of this work that’s important to people, we’re also trying to step up, and we’re trying to deal with the pandemic.”

Currently, FSA employees 10,958 people nationwide. In 2018, that number was 11,360, or a 3.5% decrease in the number of FSA employees

The Role of FSA County Committees

As possible staffing shortages weigh on the minds of legislators and farmers, the County Committee elected positions are comprised of area farmers. FSA county committees serve as a “checks and balances” role for FSA programs and applications. According to FSA’s website, the county committee members are “a critical component of the day-to-day operations of FSA. They help deliver FSA farm programs at the local level. Farmers who serve on committees help decide the kind of programs their counties will offer. They work to make FSA agricultural programs serve the needs of local producers.”

The Nov. 22 deadline falls right in the middle of the annual county committee election process. According to FSA, the last day to submit final nominations forms to the local USDA Service Center was Aug. 2. Ballots will then be sent on Nov. 1, by mail only. The last day to return ballots is Dec. 6. Even if someone decides not to run due to the mandate requirement, the nominations have already been filed. Current officials who decide to step down will be backfilled, but only by a special election.

The special election process could be lengthy, as vacant county committee seats have to follow a strict special election process. That includes the requirement of having two individuals on the ballot, and those ballots are required to be mailed, which will require additional money and resources to do. Committee members told Farm Journal the process will take months, not weeks.