Farm Management Update

Quarterly Publication of Ohio State University Extension

Winter 2003-2004

Ohio Farm Computer Usage

Marvin T. Batte and D. Lynn Forster Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

Computers have become an everyday tool for office workers and managers in many sectors of the economy. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that in 2000 about 54 percent of the U.S. population used a computer at least occasionally. One might question if a parallel adoption of computers has occurred on farms. This research addresses this question using data from a March 2003 mailed survey of a random sample of all Ohio farmers.

Just over 44 percent of sampled farmers responded that they use an office computer in their farm business (Table 1). This is up from 32.1 percent in 1991. The adoption rate varied significantly by size of farm, age of operator, level of operator education, and with off-farm employment of the operator. For farms in the smallest sales category, only 36 percent of the operators had adopted an office computer. However, for farms with over $500,000 of sales, computer adoption was nearly 72 percent. Computer adoption tended to be negatively related to the age of operator. The average adoption rate for farmers who were age 50 or younger was significantly greater than for farmers older than 50. About 54 percent of farmers 50 or younger had adopted a computer, whereas only 39 percent of farmers older than 50 had adopted. On the other hand, there was a positive association between operator education level and computer adoption. Just over 31 percent of those with high school education or less had adopted a computer, but more then 67 percent of those with a post high school education were computer adopters. Computer adoption was significantly lower for farm operators who did not work away from the farm (38%) than for those who worked away from the farm (54%). Perhaps the higher adoption for farmers working away from the farm is due to the computer exposure/training that they receive in their off-farm employment and their transfer of this technology to the farm business.

Table 1. Computer adoption, computer usefulness, and computer usage levels by various farm and farmer characteristics.
Measure	Computer Adoption Percent	Computer Usefulnessa
Full Sample	44.4	3.5
Gross farm sales
$50,000-99,999	35.7	3.3
100,000-249,999	46.0	3.4
250,000-499,999	55.9	3.7
Over $500,000	71.7	3.9
Age of operator
35 or Less	53.6	4.0
36-50	52.6	3.5
51-65	46.5	3.5
65 and over	21.9	3.2
Education level of operator
Less than High School	9.5	2.7
High School Graduate	36.6	3.4
Some College	58.7	3.5
College Graduate	79.0	3.8
Post Graduate Education or Degree	64.0	3.4
Operators Working off the Farm
None	38.0	3.6
Seasonally	52.1	3.3
Year Around	53.9	3.4
aFarmers who have adopted computers were asked to indicate the extent to which the computer has improved the business by either saving time or providing better business information. Five response categories were offered, where 1 = Not at all and 5 = Very Much.

The surveyed farmers were also asked to indicate the extent to which they felt the computer had improved their business either by saving time or providing better information (Table 1). Farmers responded to a five item scale, where one represented no improvement, two indicated little improvement, and five represented much improvement. The average response for all computer adopters was 3.5. Average usefulness score increased with gross sales, and was significantly higher for farmers with post high school education levels. Farmers working full time on the farm also reported higher usefulness scores for computer use. Usefulness scores increased for younger operators, and were significantly higher for the farmers who were 35 or less.

Farmers who have adopted computers were asked to indicate those tasks for which the computer was used. Financial record keeping was the primary computer task in 1991 and remains so today. Eighty-nine percent of farmers with computers used their computer for financial record keeping. More than 76 percent indicated they centers‹land uses that make farming more difficult, more expensive, or more subject to scrutiny. Zoning can create certainty in land availability, a benefit increasingly important for a state that is second in the nation for conversion of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses.

The use of the internet for information gathering and transactions is now an important application of the farm computer: Nearly 55 percent of farmers reported price tracking on the internet, 29 percent performed online banking or bill paying, 26 percent reported the purchase of farm inputs using the internet, 16 percent traded stocks, bonds or other financial instruments online, 13 percent sold farm products over the internet, 9 percent reported online trading of agricultural commodity contracts, and 73 percent use the internet for general information searches.

In summary, computer adoption is increasing on farms, but perhaps not as fast as for off-farm individuals. Relative to 1991 benchmarks for Ohio, computer adoption increased from 32.1 to 44.4 percent. For computer adopters, computer usage intensity also increased slightly during this same period, from 14.6 to 16.4 hours per month. Financial accounting remains the most often used task of farm computers. However, the use of the internet for communication, for transactions processing, or for information retrieval more broadly, is now used by about 80 percent of farmers with computers. The value of the computer as a tool of management does vary among farm operators. Computer usefulness evaluations rose with increased farm gross sales, diminished with increased age of the operator, and were higher for farmers who used the computer for financial or production recordkeeping or who gathered information from the internet.