(WAND) -Â A new website is meant to help save farmers time when dealing with the government.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched Farmers.gov, a website filled with tools to help farm producers fill out paperwork and find information. It launched Thursday at a breakfast held at the Michigan Farm Bureau.
It is a combined effort between the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Risk Management Agency.
"Many farmers are out in their fields using equipment that is connected to satellite and GPS technology, yet when they need to interact with USDA, they have to stop, fill out a paper form and fax or carry it to their local office. That is a real digital divide," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. "Our staff is friendly, and they love to see farmers in person, but they know that time is valuable. Producers are working hard to make their farms profitable, so these tools will help get the paperwork done without taking a big chunk out of the day to fill out forms."
Farmers.gov can quickly help farmers find the nearest USDA office to their location. The department says it’s planning to add even more features to the website, including an interactive calendar, farming success stories, an online appointment feature and a digital appointment dashboard. Digital forms are not available yet but will be included soon.
"As I've traveled to 32 states in my first nine months as Secretary of Agriculture, I have consistently heard people express a desire for greater use of technology in the way we deliver programs at USDA," Perdue added. "It's my goal to make USDA the most effective, most efficient, most customer-focused department in the entire federal government, and Farmers.gov is a big step in that direction."
The USDA says the website is meant to be a smartphone-friendly service.
