The nomination period for the 2012 county committee elections opens today, June 15. This time allows farmers and ranchers to select themselves or others as candidates to sit on the local county committee and help make important agricultural decisions. Members of the committee deliver FSA farm programs at the local level and make decisions needed to administer the programs in their counties. The nomination period runs through Aug. 1. An interim rule that would allow Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to appoint members from socially disadvantaged groups onto county committees that lack fair representation was published this week in the Federal Register and is open for public comment. Learn more about the county committee elections, download an online application in English or Spanish, or read more about the interim rule to appoint minorities to county committees.