The U.S. Department of Agriculture has evolved with the times, offering new ways for its agencies to communicate with their clients over time. Recently, the USDA agencies have begun to join the dot-com era with new electronic means of reaching out to clients.
Each USDA agency, such as the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resource and Conservation Service, Rural Development, National Agriculture Statistics Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Risk Management Agency, has its own Web site offering information and application forms for programs readily available at the public's fingertips 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
Currently restructuring, the Farm Service Agency is working towards a more mobile and accessible service for farmers and ranchers by offering program information, updates and forms on the World Wide Web on the USDA's eGovernment Web site.
“By offering our program information and application forms on the eGovernment Web site, we can make the application process more efficient,” said Randy Johnson, Montana FSA director. “eGovernment has been up and running for a while, but Montana has not been utilizing it as much as other parts of the country, as we have limited access to high-speed Internet connection. eGovernment lets producers sign up for the programs in which they want to participate and receive payments via the Internet.”
Agriculture producers can also check on their USDA customer statements, program contracts and payment status using eGovernment. To access the eGovernment Web site, producers should go to www.fsa.usda.gov and click on the FSA eGOv icon, located in the upper right-hand corner of the Web page.
“FSA is really lagging behind in the use of technology in the offices and our programs,” said Johnson. “We need to get a certain percentage of our customers on the Web to help cut down on the amount of time spent with each customer so we can better react to what Congress gives us.”
Natural Resources and Conservation Service
The Natural Resource and Conservation Service is also making some changes as it enters what Carrie Mosely, the assistant state conservationist for NRCS programs, calls the “digital age.”
The NRCS is working on transparency, as “the chief said our program descriptions and rules need to be on the Web,” said Mosely. “You can find our Web site at www.mt.nrcs.usda.gov or look at other states Web sites by first going to www.nrcs.usda.gov. All the pages look the same and have the same format.”
The NRCS also utilizes the eGovernment Web site, allowing producers to print out program application forms through the eForms service, or sign program applications electronically through the eAuthentication service. “Producers can look at their accounts and this applies to all USDA programs,” explained Mosely. “Everybody can access program information, and if they sign up for an account, they will eventually be able to access the maps we use for property summaries.”
The NRCS Web site also offers natural resource data, field office technical guides, natural resources inventory, snow surveys, water supply forecasts, global information system maps, soil survey information and recent updates.
Another producer-friendly aspect to the NRCS Web site is the Conservation Security Program self-assessment test. “This was driven by CSP, which rewards producers for their conservation stewardship,” said Mosely. “Producers can print off the self-assessment or complete it on the Web to determine if they could qualify for the CSP.”
In addition to offering information to the public and producers on the Web, NRCS is striving to make its officials more mobile when traveling. “We're putting more emphasis on mobile offices for when we come to your homes,” said Mosely.
Rural Development
Like the NRCS, USDA's Rural Development agency is striving for more mobile offices to allow its officials to tell potential clients and customers up-to-date information in a short amount of time. “With a guaranteed under-writed system, they could tell you if you qualify within a matter of minutes of applying on-line,” said Robert Leigland of Montana's Rural Development office.
The future of Rural Development includes more emphasis on economic development to create rural jobs, which Leigland said is a “hard one,” as well as renewable energy, such as programs to help producers establish energy-efficient systems such as gravity pumps for irrigation.
For more information about Rural Development's commitment to the future of rural America, check out the agency's Web site at www.rurdev.usda.gov/mt.
National Ag Statistics Service
The National Ag Statistics Service has evolved with the ever-changing communication technology throughout its existence, and has been utilizing Internet services to provide weekly agriculture facts to the nation's agriculturists for some time.
“We are the ‘fact finders' of American agriculture,” said Peggy Stringer, NASS Montana director. “We provide facts about Montana agriculture.”
American agriculture statistics have quite a history, and go back to 1791 when George Washington conducted the first American agricultural survey from Mt. Vernon to ask farmers about their crop progress. The NASS was then created to provide statistical information to farmers through general reports. The agency has since evolved its services as well as communication methods.
“I started college with a slide-rule,” said Stringer. “It was in my second year of college they released the calculator, which was $400 and all it did was add, subtract, multiply and divide. That was only 30 years ago. We have come a long way in 30 years.”
Montana's NASS is getting a new Web site in the near future. It is currently under construction, said Stringer. The look of the Web site may change, however, the address should stay the same: www.nass.usda.gov/mt.
One of the “coolest” parts of Montana's NASS Web site is the Quick Stats, said Stringer. “QuickStats is a collection all the agricultural statistics for national, any state and any county,” she explained. “You can look at them on the Web or you can download them into a spreadsheet and look at them off-line.”
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Producers can learn about pest detection and management, and more, on the APHIS Web site, www.aphis.usda.gov, according to Gary Adams, Montana APHIS state plant health director.
In addition to pest detection and management, the public can learn about the different APHIS branches and services, including APHIS wildlife services. “It's important to know that this wildlife service is not the Fish Wildlife and Parks,” said Adams. “This wildlife service deals with wildlife and human relations.”
Risk Management Agency
The Internet may have saved the life of David Nickless of the Risk Management Agency office in Billings, Mont. It if weren't for Nickless' ability to search the Internet and find information about an illness, he may not have realized he had the classic symptoms and gotten treatment before the condition worsened.
“I have a love-hate relationship with the Internet,” said Nickless. “I love the information, but hate the passwords.”
Like with many Web sites that offer accounts to view confidential information, the Risk Management Agency Web site requires users to provide a password before accessing some of its contents. Part of the reason for the need for a password lies in the confidentiality of the information that could be accessed, while the password also helps secure the Web site for users to utilize some of the tools available.
“We have a public-private partnership with our Web site,” said Nickless. “The Web site is funded and serviced by private insurance agencies.”
Therefore, producers who have yet to purchase crop insurance can utilize the Web site's Agent Finder to locate crop insurance agencies within a specified area, as well as the Premium Calculator to determine an estimate in the crop insurance premiums they may be expected to pay, said Nickless. “Producers should keep their policy information handy when using the Premium Calculator for information they may not be sure on to help pull up a more accurate premium cost for a specified amount of coverage level,” said Nickless, “in order to make management decisions or find out what they can get for that coverage. It's like comparison shopping for crop insurance coverage.”
For more information, check out the Risk Management Agency's Web site at www.rma.usda.gov.
Although it may seem a bit impersonal, the USDA agencies are working in the producers' best interests when offering information and program tools on the Internet, which is right at their fingertips during all hours of the day and all days of the year.
“The whole idea behind going electronic is you gain efficiency and the process gets less paper intensive so you can deliver a better product,” said Leland. “However, there is no substitute for contacting people.”
Autor: Shannon Burkdoll
Quelle: The Prairie Star, 27.10.2005
