For example, he can promise to deliver 10,000 bushels of corn in 100 days for the average price over that period. The future for online marketing is not corn and soybeans, but products that meet changing consumer demands, officials say. That's being communicated back to the farm level. The Internet gives farmers a broader audience for their products, said Ron Mortensen, a market adviser in Fort Dodge. Companies willing to pay a premium may ask producers for certain attributes in the commodities.
Young farmers seem most likely to take advantage.
25-45 seem are online, Pendleton said. That group is responsible for about 43 percent of farm output, he said. Large grain and cattle buyers tend to have more information than small sellers, but the Internet could change that, said Bruce Babcock, director of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development at Iowa State University. Up to one-third of Iowa farmers use the Internet daily in some way, Babcock said. The Internet has become such an integral part of Doug Svendsen's operation that he has trouble remembering a time when he didn't use it.