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USDA  modernization speeds up bridge payment process

A Farm Service Agency administrator says recent technology changes improved farmer bridge assistance sign-ups and processing.

Wisconsin FSA Director Sandy Chalmers tells Brownfield the addition of the login.gov option for farmers made a huge difference. “What we saw was people who had linked their farmers.gov account to their login.gov account were able to log in on Monday morning, look at their application, sign and certify it, and then they had a payment in their bank account by Thursday.”

Chalmers says almost twenty percent of farmer bridge assistance applications came in through login.gov.  She says farmers also used another new tool. “Another huge chunk used the box-and-one span solution. This is when a producer can call the county office and say send me my application by email, and then they open it, click to sign, and it immediately flows back to the county office.”

Chalmers says the success of the bridge payment signup process illustrates what is possible by modernizing USDA and giving farmers more online options.   

Chalmers says the deadline to apply for the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program is April 17th. The Supplemental Disaster Relief Program deadline for Phase II is April 30th for eligible losses in 2023 and 2024 for certain uninsured crops, shallow losses, and quality losses.