Farm Service Agency offices in Bottineau, Carson, Cavalier, Devils Lake, Dickinson, Fargo, Grand Forks, Hillsboro, Jamestown, LaMoure, Langdon, Linton, Mandan, Minot, Mott, Park River, Selfridge, Towner and Williston will open on Jan. 17-18 and Jan. 22 to provide essential services, including limited farm loans-related services to producers.

FSA staff will provide essential services, including:

® Processing payments made on or before Dec. 31, 2018. This will help ensure that farmer payments on Farm Storage loans are coded for the 2018 tax year.

® Signing two-party checks, enabling farmers to cash checks with USDA listed as a co-party.

USDA announced on Wednesday it was bringing FSA staff back to work while negotiations continue to reach agreement on funding the government and border security.

“I spoke to Secretary (Sonny) Perdue last week about the importance of FSA loans in providing producers with cash flow and this is a step in the right direction,” said Sen. John Hoeven. “I appreciate USDA efforts to bring back FSA staff to assist farmers and ranchers on Thursday and Friday this week and Tuesday next week. At the same time, we continue encouraging the Administration to mitigate additional impacts, including providing additional service for Marketing Assistance Loans and Guaranteed loans.”