Most US Farmers Yet to Get Online

A report released last week by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) shows that a minority of US farms have Internet access, but that more are getting connected and the percentage might be expected to pass 50 soon. More than half of farmers own or lease a computer but only 30% use it for farm business.

The Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report is based on responses from over 26,400 agricultural operations, representing all sizes and types of farms. Questions on computer ownership, access, and use were included on the 2003 June Agricultural Survey, which primarily covers crop and livestock estimates.

In 2003, 48 percent of US farms have Internet access, up from 43 percent in 2001. Fifty-four percent own or lease a computer, up from 50 percent in 2001, but the proportion using it for the business lags far behind and has risen by only 1 percent in the last 2 years.

Among larger farms, with annual sales above $250,000, 82 percent have access to a computer and 79 percent own or lease a computer. Just over two thirds (68%) use a computer for farm business, and 72 percent have Internet access.

Even smaller percentages report using the Internet for business purposes. Eight percent use it to purchase agricultural inputs, and 8 percent to conduct agricultural marketing activities. Six percent use it to access NASS reports and 11 percent to access other USDA reports and research information.

The USDA's Web site is at www.usda.gov/ and can be found , along with thousands of other worldwide government sources, on the GKSoft list at www.gksoft.com/govt/en . The GKSoft site itself is one of the best of c.1,000 useful sites in MrWeb's desk research grid at www.mrweb.com/f16/

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.