Mapping the Ag-Nation: GIS Impacts FSA Farm Bill Planning

Following the passage of the Agricultural Act of 2014, better known as the 2014 Farm Bill, the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) drafted a plan to educate producers on the new programs and regulations. Nationwide, FSA participated in nearly 5,000 educational workshops and meetings.

As county offices hosted educational workshops, state offices were tasked with recording outreach efforts to report to the FSA National Office. Using spreadsheets is common for reporting purposes, but Dan Janes, North Dakota GIS Specialist, took it a step further using Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Janes used the capabilities offered through GIS technology to analyze datasets to improve 2014 Farm Bill meeting participation.

“While looking at a spreadsheet of meeting locations in alphabetical order is helpful, viewing the meeting locations on a map shows the whole story,” said Janes.

Using GIS, Janes was able to show the meeting location, number of attendees and meetings held on or near tribal land on a single map.

“So much of what we do is tied to location and being able to tease that location-based information out of raw data is really powerful,” said Janes. “Even something as simple as showing where our farm bill meetings have been held helps us connect with our producers better. After viewing the map, we realized quickly that there were holes in our data.”

ND Farm Bill Map

North Dakota Farm Bill events map created by state GIS Specialist, Dan Janes.

The North Dakota State Office followed up to ensure that county office staff was reporting events to the state office, which was an internal data improvement. FSA also used the data to target future meeting locations to ensure 2014 Farm Bill information was being disbursed throughout the state.

“As the process went on, we found that internal reporting from county offices improved and we were reaching more producers,” said Janes.

This is the third and concluding article in a series that focused on how GIS is used to improve FSA business operations. Be sure to review FSA’s Fence Post for articles one and two to learn more about GIS streamlining FSA operations in the office and on the farm.

For questions regarding GIS, please contact Shirley Hall, FSA GIS Program Manager.

 

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