Agricultural producers have new resources available to prepare for and recover from impacts of natural disasters on USDA’s new website, farmers.gov. The site has updated tools and information to help farmers identify the right programs and make decisions for their operations.

“Agriculture is a risky business,” says USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. “At USDA, we’re here to help you prepare, recover and build long-term resilience to natural disasters. Whether you want to visit your local USDA service center or visit our new farmers.gov, we want to help you get the help you need.”

Helps producers manage program participation
New additions to the site — being built for farmers, by farmers — include a farmers.gov portal for secure business transactions and a disaster assistance discovery tool. The discovery tool walks producers through five questions to help them identify personalized results of the USDA disaster assistance programs that meet their needs. The farmers.gov portal is the first edition of a secure dashboard for producers to manage program applications and other USDA documents.

These resources are in addition to other currently available through farmers.gov, including:

• a mobile-friendly service center locator connecting users with USDA assistance at the location nearest them

• information about the new 2017 Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program, which provides disaster payments to producers to offset losses from hurricanes and wildfires during 2017

• a routinely updated farmers.gov blog, where producers can read stories about other farmers across the nation, with insight into how other producers address challenges in running successful ag operations

• a soil health webpage, where producers can read about the soil health management practices offered by USDA

• an online playbook, where you can track the latest developments of the site

“USDA’s vision for farmers.gov is to provide farmers, ranchers and foresters with online self-service applications, educational materials, engagement opportunities and business tools,” Perdue says. “Our goal is to provide America’s farmers with the best customer service, and this website is one of the ways we’re working to do so.”

To watch a message from Perdue regarding farmers.gov, go to view Secretary Perdue’s message.

USDA’s Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Risk Management Agency are collaborating with partners in government and the private sector to build farmers.gov. Work began in fall 2017, and the site launched in 2018.

Source: USDA