24 August 1999 Farmers Embrace Internet

Farmers are connecting to the internet in ever increasing numbers, says Lincoln University researcher Dr Peter Nuthall, who has been surveying computer use in the primary production sector.

Of the 43 percent of primary producers who have a computer, over one quarter (28 percent) have a telephone-based internet connection to the rest of the world, he says.

Dr Nuthall and Craig Benbow, both of Lincoln University's Management Systems Research Unit, conducted the survey nationally, across all primary production types.

Relative to farm computers, the internet has been widely available for only a short time. The system allows users to connect to other internet users anywhere in the world. The connection might be to a friend, to a business (for ordering/selling), a bank, the share market, a research organisation, or simply to an auction market to observe current prices. The information requested appears on the computer screen in the farm office.

"While 28 percent of primary producers have an internet connection, it is even more significant that 40 percent of the remainder say they will connect within two years," says Dr Nuthall.

"This trend will be important to all agribusiness. Of the farmers without a connection only 7.5 percent said their phone line was of insufficient quality."

Dr Nuthall says the survey shows that current internet users are larger producers with an equivalent 6600 stock units on average compared with the non-connected 4800 stock unit properties.

Of the managers with a connection 47 percent believed it was valuable but 37 percent were yet to form a conclusion. Only 6.3 percent of the non-connected farmers noted they would never connect. The average monthly connection time was around seven to eight hours at a monthly cost of $24.

The main use was for sending messages to friends (83 percent) and businesses (45 percent) – that is, they used electronic mail (email). The message is typed at the computer screen and at the push of a button it is sent down the telephone line to the addressed recipient. Locations can be anywhere in the world. It is possible to conduct a "conversation" provided the recipient has their computer on and the traffic levels are not high. Sometimes talking to, say, New York, is easy as in their off-peak times the lines are free.

Many organisations provide information for most to access. The survey noted that of the farmers using information sites, 3.63 hours per month were spent searching. One of the main targets was the United States Department of Agriculture, which provides many world agricultural statistics. Sites in New Zealand that were accessed more than 13 minutes per month were the Livestock Improvement Corporation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Dairy Board, AgResearch, the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand and the Meat Board.

"Undoubtedly farmers will embrace these computer information systems provided they supply data that can be used to benefit them," says Dr Nuthall.

"Farm equipment and animal supply information was the biggest request that was not currently being supplied and 66 percent of the survey respondents noted this.

"The prospects for supplying information enabling better decision-making is exciting and must help the viability of the family farm."

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand

Dr Peter Nuthall, Management Systems Research Unit, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand