Computer Use by Ohio Commercial Farmers

Abstract

Although computer technologies have evolved rapidly, farmers have been slow to adopt these technologies. This research identities factors influencing farmers' adoption of computers and the number and type of applications for which the computer is used. Ohio commercial farmers were randomly sampled and analyzed using multinomial logit techniques. Results suggest that older farmers are less likely to adopt computers, less likely to find them useful, and make fewer applications of the computer in their business. Education level is positively associated with computer adoption and with increased numbers of applications made of the computer.Agricultural businesses increasingly use information as an input in the production process. During the past decade, information options available to farmers changed substantially. Rapid development of computer and telecommunication technologies and corresponding reductions in their costs have increased the capability of computers to assist business managers in the collection, storage, and processing of information. However, adoption of this technology has lagged behind its development. Various projections made nearly a decade ago forecasted that most commercial farmers would be using computers by 1990. These projections have proven grossly inaccurate, even though computer processing speed and software availability have improved remarkably. Recent estimates of computer adoption rates range from a mere 3% of all farmers (Willimack) to just over 25% (Puder and Zilberman).Objectives of this paper are to address computer adoption and integration within farm businesses. Specific objectives are to (a) identify factors associated with computer adoption by Ohio commercial farmers, (b) determine how The authors are, respectively, associate professors and an assistant professor, The authors are grateful to Rob King and Ed Rister for helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. these factors relate to operators' computer usefulness evaluations, and (c) determine the type and number of computer applications. Multinomiallogit analyses of a random sample of Ohio commercial farmers are used to address these objectives. Previous ResearchSeveral studies have estimated farmers' adoption rates for computer technologies. Willimack, using data from the 1987 Farm Costs and Returns Survey, found that less than 3% of U.S. farmers use a computer to maintain farm records. Because her analysis focused on farm record keeping, it probably understated computer use in the sample. Furthermore, the sample employed the census ($1,000 sales) definition of a farm and thus included many small operations.Other studies of commercial-sized farm businesses have found higher adoption rates. Farm Futures magazine conducted a telephone survey of a random sample of its subscribers and found that 31% owned computers. Lazarus and Smith found that 15% of New York dairy farmers enrolled in the Farm Business Summary and Analysis program in 1986 owned computers. A follow-up study (Lazarus, Streeter, and JofreGiraudo) tr...

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