Computer use in agriculture: an analysis of Great Plains producers ?
Computers have changed a great deal in the past decade, yet the last survey of computer use in agriculture was performed in 1991. Furthermore, previous computer use surveys are not very extensive in coverage. In the summer and fall of 1996, we conducted a random survey of Great Plains producers. The purpose of the survey was to examine three questions: (1) who adopts computers and what are they and their farms like; (2) what are the characteristics of non-adopters; and (3) what tasks do producers want computers to perform? Our results confirmed that most of the variables earlier studies identified as influential on computer adoption still had an impact. These included farm size (acres and sales), ownership of livestock, farm tenure, and off-farm employment exposure to computer use. We found some question as to whether age or experience is a better predictor of computer adoption. Moreover, there also appears to be reason to question whether education has a significant impact on adoption.
computer adoption mail survey agricultural software use technology transfer