News Story - Idaho State Journal

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

POCATELLO - Idaho farmers use computers and conduct farm business on-line at a rate well above the national average.

Anecdotal evidence also seems to indicate younger farmers are more likely to utilize the Internet than older farmers.

In 2007, 83 percent of Idaho's farms owned or leased a computer, up from 75 percent in 2005, according to National Agricultural Statistics Service data released Aug. 13.

By comparison, 59 percent of farms at the national level owned or leased a computer in 2007, up from 55 percent in 2005.

While 35 percent of the nation's farms reported using their computers to conduct farm business (up from 32 percent in 2005), in Idaho 50 percent of farms reported doing so (up from 47 percent in 2005).

For some reason, Idaho farmers are more likely than their national counterparts to own and use a computer. Why that is they can't say, other than to offer lightheartedly, ''We're smarter.''

''I'm on it right now,'' said Potlatch farmer Bob Callihan when contacted for this story. ''Most of the farmers I know use the Internet.''

Like many farmers who use the World Wide Web, Callihan uses it to check commodity prices and for business communications, which is a fancy term for e-mail.

''There are just a variety of things you can do on the Internet,'' says Callihan, an Idaho Farm Bureau Federation board member.

In addition to being a good way to check markets, some farmers are using the Web to purchase chemicals and fertilizer, says Jim Wilson, a program manager in College of Southern Idaho's Agriculture Department.

''There are just all sorts of ways they can use it,'' he says. ''It's a great tool.''

Soda Springs rancher Mark Harris, a member of the younger generation of American farmers and ranchers, uses the Internet to check cattle markets, futures and for business communications.

''It gives us an idea what to ask the buyers for when we go to sell our yearlings,'' says Harris, chairman of IFBF's Young Farmer and Rancher Committee.

Harris says the main way YF&R members communicate is through e-mail. He couldn't imagine not using the Internet. ''It's just a big part of life now; what would you do without it?''

But if 50 percent of Idaho farmers use the Internet for farm business, that means an equal number don't use it. Callihan suspects that latter group is largely made up of older farmers like himself.

Callihan, 75, could be an exception among older farmers. He was basically forced to learn how to use computers and navigate the Web while working at the University of Idaho. He learned to use the Internet in its initial stages.

While working on computers with his cohorts and grad students, ''It didn't take me long to get up to speed,'' he says.

But he says that's not the case for many older farmers, who ''are too busy chasing cows and fixing fences'' to learn those skills. They don't have computer-literate people surrounding them, helping them out and answering questions, like he did.

''A lot of farmers my age don't use it because ... it is difficult for them; it takes time to get up to speed,'' he says.

Oba McCoy, an older farmer in the Moscow area, says he doesn't have a computer and doesn't plan to get one. ''I'm old enough that I decided not to get into that,'' he says. ''I just haven't had the interest.''

Ditto for Loyal Fleener, another Moscow area farmer.

''I think I'm getting too old to run the keys,'' he says. ''It doesn't come easy for me.''

His family has a computer but he isn't keen on using it. Not that he didn't give it a fair shot. ''I get tired of sitting in front of it and waiting for it to do something,'' he says. ''I'm just not one to sit around and look at a tube. I'm busy farming.''

Fleener says if he had learned ''all the ins and outs'' of computers and the Internet earlier in life, it may have been a different story. ''It's just kind of passed me by. I think my 4-year-old grandson can do more on it than I can.''

According to the NASS data, 68 percent of Idaho farms had access to the Internet in 2007, compared to 55 percent of the nation's farms.

High-speed Internet access methods such as DSL, cable, satellite and wireless have become much more available to Internet users in the farm sector since 2005.

The proportion of farm operators in Idaho using DSL more than doubled in 2007, at 24 percent, compared with 10 percent in 2005.

The proportion of farms reporting cable, satellite and wireless also increased from two years ago.

The proportion of farms using dialup access was down significantly from 2005 but dialup was still the most common method of access. The proportion of farms using dialup in 2007 was 42 percent, which was down from 73 percent in 2005.

By Sean Ellis

This document was originally published online on Sunday, October 21, 2007

Article Rating

Reader Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of our paper.

Submit a Comment

Commenting Rules

We encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are subject to deletion by our Web staff.

Report a Comment

Report a comment for review to the ISJ web staff.