NEWS

Farm Service Agency

Public Affairs Staff

1400 Independence Ave SW

Stop 0506, Room 3624-South

Washington, D.C. 20250-0506

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2006 - Teresa Lasseter, administrator of USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA), today announced the completion of a database commonly referred to as the Section 1614 database, named for the authorizing section of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, under which it was created.

"The 2002 Farm Bill required us to develop a database that attributes payments to individuals, instead of stopping at the level of corporations and co-ops, as was the case with existing databases," said Lasseter. "This massive undertaking resulted in a database that contains more than 64 million records and represents thousands of hours of work."

Congress directed USDA to track the benefits under titles one and two of the 2002 Farm Bill. To the extent that records allow, the database contains information about benefits provided to producers from Oct. 1, 2002, through June 2006 by FSA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and cooperatives. This required the compilation of more than 350 million financial transactions, contained in multiple databases, into one database that tracks attribution of payments to individuals.

The 1614 database is not the official record of payments to producers by USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation. In many cases, historical data necessary to create the 1614 database had to be re-created using the best available records as compiled from FSA's 2,346 offices across the country. The official record of payments is contained in other data files that have been publicly available for several years.

The 1614 database contains 64 million records for more than 2.3 million entities or individuals. It provides information about $56 billion worth of benefits. Due to the size of the database, FSA is unable to make it available via the Internet. To obtain a copy of the database on DVD, please send a written request to 1614 Database, Farm Service Agency, 6501 Beacon Drive - Mail Stop 8388, Kansas City, MO 64133-4676. A written request can also be faxed to (816) 448-5833 or emailed to RA.mokansasc2.fsakcfoia@one.usda.gov. Requestors should note that the database is too large (6 gigabytes) to be loaded onto an average home or desktop computer.

#