US Online Services For Farmers

USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 2277: Computers on the Farm, by Deborah Takiff Smith is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. Other Computer Developments at USDA

Besides online information services, there are several other computer developments available through USDA that are of use to farmers and ranchers. Many USDA agencies are using computers to disseminate information. Here is a partial list:

Since 1981, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has been releasing information electronically that previously had been distributed as publications through the mail.

The FAS electronic information system includes agricultural trade leads received from agricultural attaches relating to potential purchases of commodities by foreign buyers.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), in cooperation with the Extension Service, has developed two software packages to help farmers make decisions about the kind and amount of crop insurance they will need. ARCIE (All Risk Crop Insurance Evaluation) comes in "mini" and "complete" versions.

Mini-ARCIE takes individual farm data and calculates a projected cash flow under various yield conditions with and without crop insurance. It takes about 15 minutes to run.

Complete-ARCIE, which takes about an hour, analyzes risk and loss probabilities over an extended period. It prompts farmers to enter expected prices and yields, and to include historical data.

Both programs examine the insurance options available—both public and private—and show how these options compare and how they complement each other. Federal Crop Insurance is currently available on about 30 major crops nationwide.

These programs are designed to run on most microcomputer models. Your State Extension Service, State Vocational Education Office, or your local crop insurance agent may already have the programs.

For further information, including how to obtain a copy of the program, write to:

The ARCIE Project
Department of Agricultural Economics
107 Agricultural Building
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77840

The Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) is planning to put small computers into all its county offices starting in 1985. They will keep lists of farmers and their acreage allotments and bases, record set-aside histories, and record and maintain the other myriad facts necessary to make the USDA farm programs work. The system will keep farm records, addresses for mailings, election registers, and records of payments. Even checks to pay farmers will be produced by the decentralized county computer systems.

The computers will also be tied into State systems and a central computer for some recordkeeping functions, and can be used for electronic mail and other communications.

One function of the new system will be to mesh FAS trade opportunity leads into the ASCS data base. This will permit a farmer or local agribusiness person to go into the ASCS office and immediately learn about trade leads reported by agricultural attaches. This program will go into operation during the mid-1980's.

The Economic Research Service (ERS) releases its Outlook and Situation reports through AGNET. Summaries of these are available through USDA Online.