With 29 agencies and staff offices, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) serves Americans through agencies, such as the Agricultural Research Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Rural Development (RD) agencies, U.S. Forest Service, and many others. The agencies' activities deal with spatial data about soil, water, air, plants, animals, landownership, demographics, and socioeconomics.

USDA Service Center Agencies (SCA), located throughout the country, are one-stop shops that bring together services from different USDA agencies. Service Center Agencies, including FSA, NRCS, Office of Community Development, Rural Business and Cooperative Service, Rural Housing Service, and Rural Utilities Service, are implementing a shared GIS in more than 3,000 county, state, and center offices. In an era of declining staff and increasing population and programs, the technology enables the agencies to increase staff productivity, improve customer service, and share data so citizens can help themselves.

Over the past two years USDA SCA has implemented a formal training program with Esri that provides streamlined access to Esri's GIS training curriculum. USDA SCA GIS users from the USDA NRCS, FSA, and Rural Development agencies take part in the training that will help them provide high-quality data and services to their clients in rural communities throughout the United States and its territories. The three agencies are stewards of spatial and tabular data used by America's farmers and rural communities.

"USDA SCA has been working with Esri to implement GIS technologies across its state and field offices for several years," says Dennis Lytle, associate chief information officer for NRCS and the GIS team lead for SCA. Lytle has led the GIS deployment effort since its inception.

"Implementation of this Esri training program is part of USDA SCA's dedication to the success of its GIS staff in providing accurate and timely data and services products to meet clients' needs," adds Lytle.

After conducting an initial training needs analysis in collaboration with key USDA SCA managers in 2002, the Esri-Denver regional office developed a curriculum plan that included a mix of Esri catalog courses and a modified introductory ArcGIS course tailored to meet USDA SCA's common work flow and data requirements. To serve a large number of USDA SCA personnel throughout the United States, Esri-Denver provided a training plan enabling FSA, NRCS, and RD personnel to attend training classes near their home offices. Esri training centers and the NRCS National Cartography and Geospatial Center in Fort Worth, Texas, were used to facilitate course needs.

"We are pleased with the flexibility and attention to detail that Esri has provided over the last two years since we instituted this comprehensive training program," says Boris de Souza, USDA SCA GIS team training leader.

"The challenges associated with providing GIS training specific to the client's needs in locations across the country were minor when you consider the positive feedback received after the introductory training delivery in Phase One," says Esri-Denver's training manager, John Young. "Our course development team did a great job, and we are excited about moving forward with Phase Two in 2004."

More than 300 USDA SCA staff members from 50 state and field offices received training during the first phase. Because of this success, Esri will provide an update to the first phase's modified introductory course to include ArcGIS 9 functionality in fall 2004. Additional courses covering ArcGIS topics, geodatabases, ArcSDE, ArcIMS, and ArcObjects, as well as training for 350 to 400 additional USDA personnel, will be offered in Phase Two.

USDA was established in 1862 with a mission to acquire information on subjects connected with agriculture and make it available to the American public. This mission remains part of USDA's main objective, even with the vast changes the country has seen since USDA's birth.

For more information, contact John Young, Esri (tel.: 303-449-7779, ext. 8261; e-mail: john_young@esri.com).