The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a division known as the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
What is it? Just another government “do-nothing for people” agency?
I don’t think so.
It serves a purpose helping farmers and ranchers navigate and be successful in today’s economic climate through assistive programs. The agency has offices throughout the state for face-to-face interaction with the agriculturalists it serves. It has numerous departments and personnel specializing in various needs and services, with an executive director (appointed by the United States president through the secretary of the USDA).
Counties and regions within the state have committees made up of farmers and ranchers to guide and provide input to the agency employees and it has a state committee that oversees it all and hears appeals from farmers and ranchers involved in the various programs.
I served on that state committee for three years — until I refused to get “the jab.”
A few weeks ago, Washington FSA’s state outreach coordinator contacted me. She was setting up a tour of Southwest Washington for the newly appointed state Executive Director Patrick Bell.
She wanted to get the word out that he would be here and arrange some meetings with local farmers and ranchers so that he could get as much personal interaction as possible.
I gave her contact info for several county farm bureaus and made the arrangements to accompany him.
Patrick Bell — who is he? How did he get appointed as Washington’s FSA executive director?
Patrick is a Washington native who has been involved in public service and has ties to agriculture. He has held leadership positions for Spokane County, in higher education and worked with former U.S. Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers where he oversaw outreach and casework for farmers and ranchers in 12 counties.
Part of his duties included going to Washington, D.C., every year with the Spokane Chamber and economic development organization to meet at the USDA headquarters and attend meetings on the Hill.
He grew up with livestock projects in 4-H and FFA and is still involved with his family’s multigenerational farm in Stevens County. Over the past eight years, he has helped his father launch their direct-to-consumer freezer beef brand. The experience gained there helped him in his work in Spokane County where he helped local ranchers work with the Board of County Commissioners to modify zoning regulations to allow small-scale USDA processing facilities in unincorporated areas. He and his wife have two children and have their own acreage where his children can learn about agrarian living.
Bell has connections to Lewis County — his wife is from the Boistfort Valley, so he stayed with in-laws while here to meet with “on the ground, in the trenches” farmers and ranchers. He knew some names and places and at one of our stops actually “met” a gentleman who had attended his wedding — a guest of his bride’s family.
You always hear about the small world we live in.
Patrick said that customer service is a major priority for him, so he wanted to meet and get first-hand information as to how the FSA programs are, or are not, used; find out how the process does or does not work for farmers and ranchers; understand the pressures our farmers and ranchers face; and learn what services are needed in our unique agricultural climate.
He wanted to see what innovations are happening in Southwest Washington.
So, at 9 a.m., I met Patrick at our first stop of his Lewis County tour. Heidi and Mike Peroni in Boistfort Valley showed us their organic blueberries (they have other products, but that was our emphasis). The Peronis gave a little history of their operation. They were in the Independence Valley running a community supported agriculture (CSA) operation employing 25 people.
In addition to their weekly CSA boxes, they sold at six markets and to wholesale produce suppliers. They faced challenges and decided to downsize. They found the property in Boistfort Valley that was still close to services, affordable and had irrigation rights.
They utilized an FSA loan to purchase the ground. Their current challenges? Pretty typical — labor (cost and availability) and input (diesel and fertilizer) expenses. An additional challenge is marketing as their berries generally “go over the heads” of their local community to consumers farther away.
Next stop was a double. He was set to meet with Katherine Humphrey to see her hazelnut operation and then, very close by, meet with her son, Jackson, to see his pea crop. As we left Mike and Heidi, I told Patrick the Ceres Hill Road bridge was closed, so to get to our next stop would be “the long way around” and a lot of back tracking.
It would eat up a lot of time on his crowded schedule, so I suggested we meet Jackson first, if possible, or hopefully get Katherine to somehow meet us at Jackson’s as she had additional nut trees on that side of the river.
I called Katherine. She rode her bicycle (and was allowed to sneak across the bridge) and met us. Jackson and his grandfather (Katherine’s dad) talked about the challenges Jackson is facing as a new, young farmer.
All farmers in Lewis County are scrambling to find crops they can be successful with. Jackson rents all the land he farms. He rents equipment from his grandfather. Like others in our area, he had planted malting barley only to find out in the fall of 2024 that Great Western (the buyer of the grain) was pulling out of their agreement, so there was no place to sell their grain.
He has tons of grain sitting in bins waiting to find a buyer.
Jackson currently is growing dry peas to be sent to Japan for sprouts, pinto beans, canola for oil, and spinach for seed.
His issue? Being new and young, being able to make it, to survive in agriculture. Land purchase loans and operating loans are necessary and may be hard to get in a shaky agriculture atmosphere. He has family members trying to convince him to give it up for another, more profitable career.
Katherine was next, and for those of you who know her, you know she doesn’t pull her punches — she says what she feels. She told Patrick that “everything the government does makes it worse.”
She spoke of having issues with the local office, specifically the availability to talk to someone in a timely manner and the overwhelming paperwork requirements. Patrick listened intently and, from his comments, I am sure he will be addressing Katherine’s issues with FSA staff.
Our next stop (after lunch at a local restaurant I know sources many of its ingredients locally) was to the Port of Chehalis. We first met Jake Fay and Tina Sharp at the Southwest Washington Food Hub. They explained how the cooperative was formed and discussed the multiple farms it sources products from and the distribution of products to local schools and CSA boxes.
Patrick was particularly inquisitive about funding and how the service is provided to the farmers and ranchers involved.
From the warehouse, we went over to the grain loading facility where Patrick got an up close and personal tour of the operation, including the impressive computer system that controls the loading of grain into rail cars. He was also told a little about future plans and developments to further help local farmers and ranchers.
Due to other commitments, I did not attend his last meeting of the day, but was able to catch up with him the next evening again when he met with the members and guests of the Clark-Cowlitz Farm Bureau.
It was nice to see a large turnout as many took time out of their schedule to attend a special meeting just to get a chance to meet with the USDA’s new Washington FSA director and have their voices heard. A broad representation of agriculture was in attendance, both conventional and organic — producers of flowers, produce, berries, poultry, beef, pork — I lost track as they each introduced themselves. Each had an opportunity to address issues they need help with or have gotten help with. Patrick listened, and I think took their comments to heart. He stressed his feeling of needed risk management and hopes to coordinate a Federal Parties Coalition meeting.
Throughout his visit, Patrick repeatedly stated that customer service is a high priority for him. He wants to make sure that FSA is serving farmers and ranchers well. They should hear back on questions within hours, not days.
Patrick wants FSA to be a lender of first opportunity for veterans and others. He seems to have a mission to get more people signed up for FSA programs. It seems there is a breakdown of communication about FSA programs that are available and what each one does. He is wondering about an email list or a text list in order to send a newsletter to producers about deadlines, what is available, and what is coming up. If you are interested, contact your local FSA office, or give me a holler and I can connect you.
Those programs? The acronyms can drive you crazy. When I was on the FSA State Committee I was mailed a huge binder before I attended my first meeting. It included a list of acronyms I needed to get familiar with. As I recall, it was half a dozen pages long.
Government efficiency for you!
FSA strives for a safe and stable food supply and offers many services to those in, or getting into, agriculture. Financial help is available through land purchase loans and operating loans. There are many other programs, as well. Some deadlines are already passed for this year, but some are still open. In brief, here are a few the staff feels are of high interest to local farmers/ranchers.
Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA): This program was announced in December by President Trump and Secretary Rollins. It was to provide a bridge for farmers until benefits of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act were made available. It was a life support bridge to help farmers hold on. It has closed, but nearly $90 million was disbursed in Washington.
Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF): This program provides financial assistance for specialty crop producers to address market disruptions, elevated input costs, inflation and market losses from foreign competitors engaging in unfair trade practices. It is based on acreage reports.
Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP): The first stage is available to producers who received a crop insurance indemnity or payment through the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) for losses due to natural disasters. Stage two is available to producers who experienced quality losses to crops, trees, bushes and vines not covered in stage one. Secretary Rollins has extended that deadline to Aug. 12, 2026, and the payment factor has been raised to 70%.
Not a program, but important to all FSA programs is acreage reporting. Acreage reports are important for participation in FSA. Many programs like ASCF and SDRP rely on acreage reports to calculate payments. Failure to report acreage or reporting late can result in loss of program benefits or late fees. The deadline for spring-planted crops is July 15.
The local USDA office is at 2501 NE Kresky Ave., Chehalis, or call 360-748-0083 and houses FSA, the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Rural Development (RD).
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Maureen Harkcom grew up on a Lewis County dairy and operated a beef and native hay operation and developed an equine competition facility. She can be reached by email at maureen.harkcom@gmail.com.
