During April, Farm Service Agency employees nationwide are being trained to operate a new computer system.
Matt Kleski in the Ohio FSA State Office has been involved with the project since 2008.
"It's basically integrated software that will combine both our GIS components, along with our farm records data," said Kleski.
Kleski is one of the super users in the U.S. working on the MIDAS (Modernize and Integrate the Delivery of Agriculture Systems) software release. He tells Brownfield that not only will the upgrade help FSA employees be more efficient, but farmers will see benefits as well.
"One of the benefits for the farmers, county offices will now be able to pull data across the country, across stateliness, across county lines whatever the case may be, to help producers access that information," Kleski said. "Furthermore, with a quicker processing system, it should ultimately end up in quicker payments."
The last systems upgrade for the Farm Service Agency..back in the late `80s.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com