Also, the bill would allow the interested public to have access to information on farm programs, quarterly trade, economic and production reports and other similar information. Within two years, the completed system must be fully operational, allowing farmers to retrieve and file all relevant forms with USDA.

A similar bill was approved in November by the Senate, so it now goes to a conference committee where the differences will be ironed out.

Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-IL) said the process through which farmers now must go is "inefficient and time consuming, especially during busy times like harvest." Farmers now must fill out USDA paperwork by going to the local USDA offices, complete the paperwork, wait in line and then file the documents in paper form.

Fitzgerald cites a 1998 survey by Novartis that found more than 72% of all farmers with 500 acres or more had personal computers and more than 50% of all farmers had computers. Farmers’ Internet use has nearly doubled sine 1997.