AMITE — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, visited the USDA office in Amite on Friday afternoon to announce that 2,100 offices across the country will reopen.

"As our farmers are harvesting right now, without the checks they are getting from this office behind me, they can't make their plans and plant for next year. So, it really did become a food supply issue," Rollins said.

$3 billion in financial assistance for farmers has been on hold for more than three weeks due to the government shutdown. Now those funds can be processed, as thousands of USDA employees return to work after being furloughed.

Each office will have two employees, 5 days a week.

"So, unlike SNAP funding, our food stamp program, which we know will end on November 1st, and that's a much bigger, more expens

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