FAS, FSA and AMS roll out digital tools: new export‑sales system, one‑farmer‑one‑file and an AI feeder‑cattle pilot

Speakers from the Foreign Agricultural Service, Farm Service Agency and Agricultural Marketing Service described recent digital rollouts and pilots intended to improve data timeliness and user access.

Brigit, acting deputy administrator for the FAS Global Market Analysis program, said FAS rolled out the new export‑sales reporting system in two steps: exporter data entry on March 26 and the first published reports and a new query system on April 2. She said the team conducted outreach and trainings for exporters, many of whom accessed the system successfully, but acknowledged lingering glitches and asked users to submit feedback so the IT team can prioritize fixes. She also described migration of iPad‑site content into the main FAS web pages and noted geospatial tools (GADIS, GLAM) and the WAP circular are available under the FAS data and analysis pages.

Tim Gralin (Farm Service Agency) outlined digital advances in FSA programs: strong electronic filing adoption during the Farmers Bridge assistance program (more than 10% filed electronically overall; some counties exceeded 70% electronic filing), an upcoming stage‑two enrollment deadline (April 30) and a specialty‑crop assistance program deadline imminent at the meeting. He also summarized the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA/AIA) online portal that streamlines foreign‑land purchase disclosures and described an initiative to create a cross‑agency "one farmer, one file" to reduce duplicate paperwork across FSA, NRCS and RMA.

Cole Swansoner (AMS) described market‑news modernization: new dashboards (including a national feeder and stocker cattle dashboard replacing a static report), expanded APIs and data mart access for larger users, and an AI + camera feeder‑cattle project (combining machine learning and light detection technologies) designed to standardize live‑animal evaluation and expand price discovery.

Panelists encouraged users to report dashboard download or API issues to agency contacts; agencies collected requests (for grand totals, CSV download buttons and API endpoints) for follow up and promised to post clarifying documentation and fixes.