IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

As part of the e-Government initiative, USDA has this week introduced a revamp of its Web site that aims to be more useful to farmers and ranchers. "The new look will be followed by improved functionality," Ag Secretary Ann Veneman said Monday about the relaunch. "We will continue adding features for users, culminating in August with the launch of 'MyUSDA.gov' to provide a customized version of the USDA homepage for individual users based on their unique needs." Other features that users will see soon include a "customer statement." Customer statements will put a whole range of USDA services and programs into a single report at the fingertips of agricultural producers. For instance, farmers would be able to view their contracts in various conservation programs, payments under commodity programs and information on loans and crop insurance.

Veneman said that farmers and ranchers will even be able to cross-reference that data with interactive maps of their operations using geographic information systems, or GIS, technology with overlays for roads, soil types, water and other geographic features.

"Producers will have quick and easy access in a single gateway to the volumes and volumes of maps and geospatial data generated by USDA," Veneman said. "Instead of traveling to a county office, farmers and ranchers will be able to log on from a computer to apply for loan deficiency payments over the Internet.

The goal is to provide integrated service around customer needs. For example, USDA is preparing a new Commodity Market Information System, or CMIS, to bring together many sources of commodity information from our various agencies in one place. The CMIS will be up-to-date and searchable providing user-friendly access to the more than 3,000 commodity-related reports USDA produces every year.

Quelle: Agriculture.com, 13.01.2004