Improving information technology at the FSA

Washington Ag Today March 15, 2010 Some Washington farmers received late payments last fall from the USDA for farm programs and the Conservation Reserve Program. Part of the problem was the implementation of new computer software for the Farm Service Agency. As Jonathan Coppess, Administrator of the FSA, told a congressional hearing last week, his agency’s information technology is antiquated.

Coppess: “Our hardware systems are between ten and 24 years old in a world where the average life span of an IT component is three to five years.”

Congress has finally began providing funding for the FSA to upgrade and the agency wants more for a project called MIDAS.

Coppess: “What we really want out of this modernization effort is more flexibility for the farmer. If you want to do acreage reporting or upload your harvest information on line, perfect. If you have questions about it we want that county office to be a better service center so that when you come in with questions and work with staff it doesn‘t take as long. The answers are there. The information is there.”

Officials are hoping to have most of the MIDAS project in place within three to four years.

?The Washington State Department of Agriculture is sponsoring pesticide disposal events in Yakima and Othello in early May. The Yakima event is on May 3 and 4, while the waste pesticide collection near Othello will be on May 6. To participate, contact WSDA by March 24. Call (877) 301-4555 (toll free)

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.