SAN ANTONIO — The USDA says it’s making big changes to its much-maligned computer network to make it easier for farmers to apply for grants and disaster funding, update acreage and participate in other farm-related programs.
The USDA has embarked on a massive upgrade project, the first part step being its “One Farmer, One File” initiative announced at the show to create a single, streamlined record that follows farmers during their movement through the USDA’s internal system.
The FSA, NRCS and RMA work with agricultural producers on a wide range of programs and services, from establishing a farm number to reporting acres planted, and from getting capital to recovering from disasters.
Rollins said the “One Farmer, One File” initiative is part of a broad modernization effort to unify all FSA, NRCS and RMA systems and retire legacy systems, with work having begun last year and expected to finish in 2028.
The ugly statistics behind the massive agency’s IT system were publicly laid bare last week during Commodity Classic. Prior modernization efforts over the last 2 decades were “absolute stunning failures,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said.
A Government Accountability Office audit found barely 15% of planned IT system upgrades were ever delivered. Taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of dollars for “ancient” technical architecture with 500 different custom-built system and databases managed by over 1,000 different contractors that cost more than $1 billion.
“Indeed, USDA’s IT systems have been fractured with dozens of siloed, duplicative technology platforms that don't talk to one another,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins told hundreds of farmers and industry stakeholders in the audience.
“This past technology was not just unfair to the farmers, but also unfair to our FSA staff who often log into multiple systems just to stitch together a farmer’s record when asked — all while farmers are filling intensive and duplicative paperwork out, often in person, because information could not move across departments.”
One example of changes made so far includes the USDA using Login.gov to expedite Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) payments to producers. The administration is also streamlining its conservation programs to make it easier for producers to bundle and apply for the practices needed on their farms.
Rollins said workers from the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were tasked last year to tackle the massive IT issues plaguing the agency.
For example, acreage reporting at local FSA offices was stuck in the past: Farmers had to drive to a county office be handed a paper map and manually certify their acres every year with paper and pencil.
The changes are “long, long, long overdue,” said Richard Fordyce, the USDA's undersecretary of Farm Production and Conservation. “Some of the DOGE architects that looked at these antiquated legacy systems said, ‘Oh my gosh, these things are going to break,’ and they designed a pathway forward.
“I am not a computer engineer or programmer by any means, but I do know when I see something that looks like it’s going to work and can say, “‘Yeah, let’s do that.’”
Rollins said the modernization program isn’t a mandate to digitize. “FSA offices will stay open. You will always have someone to sit down with to help with paper applications and traditional acreage reporting.
“We are not telling you we're moving everything to your phone or your computer at home, but instead it's an expansion of options for our farmers.”
