Farm payments go high tech

Some Iowa farmers may find it easier to get farm-bill payments. It’s a pilot program to see how well it’ll work to offer loan deficiency payments online, the way the IRS is encouraging taxpayers to file their tax returns. Agriculture Department head Ann Veneman in Washington says more farmers are using the internet, and says producers using the new e-LDP service won’t have to come into a U-S-D-A office to get their loan deficiency payments, saving travel and time. Iowa’s Jasper County is one of 21 in the nation in which the pilot program’s being implemented. Veneman says the new farm bill calls for using electronic services to whatever extent it proves feasible.