INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — In a move to cut expenses, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is moving toward electronic communication as the delivery mechanism for informing farmers of FSA programs. Across the country, postal mailings are no longer an option.

FSA stated it is reducing postage expenses as much as possible and will no longer be mailing newsletters or farm acreage maps. Producers will need to get newsletters and maps at their county offices or receive them electronically.

The FSA distributes four to six newsletters annually, to 1.4 million producers who participate in the agency’s programs. The estimated cost for printing and mailing the information is $2.1 million-$3.15 million, according to FSA Administrator Bruce Nelson; however, the annual fee to host all of FSA’s electronic newsletters is less than $100,000.

Julia Wickard, executive director of FSA in Indiana, said, “We are looking at every aspect as to how we conduct business and we are reducing expenses wherever possible without negatively affecting our ability to provide services to producers.” She stressed the move to electronic communication reflects the direction many agricultural businesses are taking. “Email addresses are considered personally identifiable information and are confidential at FSA,” Wickard said. “Many people have personal electronic devices and carry their lives in the palms of their hands.”

Effort is being made at the county level to collect email addresses of farm owners and operators, as well as cell phone numbers. Producers may sign up for the secure GovDelivery system at their county FSA offices, or online at www.fsa.usda.gov/subscribe

“We’re building a database as they come in,” said Darla Norris, FSA county executive director for Daviess and Martin counties. But Norris’ email list is a small percentage of her rural clients, the result of limited Internet access and cell phone coverage in rural areas. She is concerned the majority of producers will go uninformed.

“We’ll need the media to help get the word out,” she said.