"Expanding electronic government or 'eGov' is a major element of President Bush's management agenda to better serve individuals and businesses across the country," said Veneman during remarks at the Farm Science Review being held here. "The eLDP program allows producers to apply for and receive Loan Deficiency Payments online from remote locations such as their homes or offices."

   In January, Veneman announced several eGov (eGovernment) initiatives and launched the new USDA website, which was the first phase in efforts to make the website more powerful and accessible. Features are continually being added such as the Customer Statement in March, which puts a whole range of USDA services and programs into a single report at the fingertips of agricultural producers. Farmers are able to view their contracts in various conservation programs, payments under commodity programs and information on loans and crop insurance.

   Farmers participating in the eLDP will no longer have to travel to USDA Service Centers to receive their benefits. Payments are automatically deposited in the producer's bank account, reducing paperwork while speeding up payment processing.

   To participate, producers must meet all eligibility requirements for marketing assistance loans and LDPs for barley, canola, corn, corn silage, dry peas, flaxseed, grain sorghum, honey, mustard, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rice, safflower, soybeans, sunflower oil, sunflower seeds, wheat, wool, mohair and unshorn pelts. eLDPs for upland cotton producers will become available at a future date.

   When local market prices are less than the marketing assistance loan rate, producers can choose to receive LDPs for their crops in lieu of marketing assistance loans. An LDP is based upon the quantity of the commodity pledged as collateral for a loan multiplied by the difference between the local marketing assistance loan rate and the posted county price for the commodity.

   The voluntary eLDP service has stringent security measures to protect participants' private information. As with traditional LDPs, only authorized federal employees have access to information that is submitted electronically. All participating producers must have an e-mail address and set up a customer profile through their local USDA Service Center that validates their farming and crop information.

   To register, producers can go to: http://www.sc.egov.usda.gov and complete form CCC-634-E, "Request for Electronic Loan Deficiency Payment Services" or they can obtain the form at USDA Service Centers. Eligible producers must also have an active USDA eAuthentication Level 2 account, which requires filling out an online registration form at http://www.sc.egov.usda.gov followed by a visit to the local USDA Service Center for identity verification.