The experience was successful in the case of the dairy cattle industry. It failed with poultry and beef cattle. Flower growers connected in the past by e-mail to the auctions in the Netherlands have downgraded the technology level and switched to facsimile communication with the marketplace. Crop protection extension is a component of several of these programs. Being constantly reduced in staff, the Extension Service in Israel has to amplify the communication channels with its clientele, and among its professionals.
Networked communications are a promising but lengthy avenue.
Modern communication needs in agriculture for developing countries S Nagarajan Directorate of Wheat Research, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Karnal 132001, Haryana, India. In the expanding Indian agriculture, communication plays a vital role in linking policy makers, scientists, farm level agro-consultants, market operators and international institutions. India, in the process of transforming its agriculture, has fully utilized publishing media, audio systems, audio-visual appliances, street drama and performing arts to quickly communicate with farmers, who were not necessarily formally educated, on the need to adopt modern practices to maximize yield. In academic schools, in-service education and in advanced research, the information explosion is being handled through computers. Flow of weather information, transmission of banking data, and other vital information linkages therefore occur readily.