The U.S. Court of Appeals rules in favor of Farm Market ID and requires USDA's Farm Service Agency to release data on farms that participate in various payment and benefit programs

Agri Marketing, May, 2008

The U.S. Court of Appeals rules in favor of Farm Market ID and requires USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) to release data on farms that participate in various payment and benefit programs.

For many years FSA routinely released data and the court decision reaffirms that FSA was correct to do so. The decision adds nothing new to past data practices.

As FSA stated in its Apri128 press release, FSA and Multi Ag Media LLC, owner of Farm Market ID, agreed to the release of these data in compliance with the court's decision.

"While the release of this information is important to us, the Farm Compliance Record is one of the many federal state and county files we use to build our comprehensive database," said John Montandon, Pres of Multi Ag Media LLC.

He added, "We have been able to build our database in the past by mining and analyzing the approximately 90 million records we receive customers have been asking for."

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Multi Ag Media has worked with USDA for years on farm data issues under the FOIA and has unmatched expertise in managing and analyzing agricultural data.

Also, Farm Market iD names Bill Pool as VP, Client Services. Most recently, he was with the Adculture Group. He can be reached at 763/257-6877, or bpool@fmid.net.