The U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on May 27 that farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners would now have access to an online portal that will provide them with a new way to communicate with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service over the Internet.
Some of the activities that agriculture professionals will be able to do through the portal is request NRCS technical and finance assistance, review and sign conservation plans, and review new contracts.
“What used to require a trip to a USDA service center can now be done from a home computer through Conservation Client Gateway,” Vilsack said. “USDA is committed to providing effective, efficient assistance to its clients, and Conservation Client Gateway is one way to improve customer service."
The Conservation Client Gateway is voluntary, but it gives agricultural professionals a new option to conduct their business online, rather than at a USDA service center. At the moment, the portal is available to individual landowners. In the near future, it will be extended to business entities, including Limited Liability Corporations.
“Our goal is to make it easy and convenient for farmers and ranchers to work with USDA,” Vilsack continued. “Customers can log in 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to electronically sign documents, apply for conservation programs, access conservation plans, report practice completion, or track the status of conservation payments.”
At the moment, the client portal does not fully support mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. However, the USDA notes that this functionality will be added in a future update.