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If USDA’s plans work out you may never have to make another trip to the county FSA office.

"The computer has already taken its place next to the plowshare and tractor as indispensable to farmers," according to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "USDA’s e-Government initiatives will standardize processes and provide tools to unleash the fuller potential of information technology. Our goal is to operate more efficiently in order to be more responsive to the needs of American agriculture and consumers."

Electronic government initiatives are going to be a special focus of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2004. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman unveiled USDA’s new Web site design during a presentation via satellite to 7,000 American Farm Bureau members attending the organization’s annual meeting in Hawaii in January.

Veneman said visitors to the USDA Web site have seen a new design, which is the first phase in efforts to make the Web site more powerful and improve access to USDA information and science.

"The new look will be followed by improved functionality," Veneman said. "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 soon will see include a "customer statement," which will put a 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 farmers and ranchers will even be able to cross-reference that data with interactive maps of their operations using geographic information systems 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."