Introduction The Second EFITA Conference on Information Technology (IT) in Agriculture - EFITA ’99 - was held in Bonn, in September 1999. The conference schedule and papers, their summaries and full texts are accessible at www.efita.org. The conference focused on a wide range of issues - among them the question: "Given that the benefit from IT is identified, proven and readily available why is the adoption rate so slow?" Slow was defined as the rate of adoption of computers, commercial software, Internet for extension and/or agricultural production - all compared to adoption potential. (more...)
Abstract: Effective adoption of Internet for extension in agriculture is elusive despite substantial investments in human capital and other resources. To better understand the adoption process EUNITA (a concerted EU project www.eclipse.it/EUNITA/main.html), INEA (the Italian National Institute of Agricultural Economics – www.inea.it) and the Toscana Extension service sponsored a workshop in Alberese, Italy to evaluate critical success factors and failures. (more…)
Abstract: Some 50% of Finnish farmers have a PC, half of which are used for business related purposes. Most occupational users run standalone PC software. The main applications are bookkeeping, payrolls, invoicing and other aspects of farm economics. Many farmers have also connected their PCs via telephone links to the mainframe legacy services provided by the Agricultural Data Processing Centre owned by the Finnish Association of Rural Centres. Their services are typically related to performance recording and economics in dairy production or to various aspects of production planning, but they also comprise some electronic marketing services for agricultural products. Due to the fall in the price of micro computers, the rapidly growing volume of software, services and other relevant material and to the general success and appeal of electronic networks, the potential for expanding the vocational uptake of the Internet is considerable.
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