Internet survey

Farm Bureau member Katie Brenny explains how she uses these tools to improve efficiency and productivity on her farm. ”Technology is very important on the farm because it allow us to look for that continuous improvement and as farmers and ranchers that’s what we’re always after, is how do we make what we do better. On our farm we use different technology sources. Probably one of the latest things we’ve done is used Facetime to connect with our local veterinarian to help with animal health and animal care on the farm without having them come out to the farm, which allows for better efficiency and allowing for that continuous improvement.”

USDA has recently released a farm a computer use and Internet Access Survey. It’s an every other year product looking at changes over that two year period? That includes technological changes such as increased use in mobile and smart devices and growth in broadband e-connectivity. Jody McDaniel of the National Agricultural Statistics Service says now, after the survey release, is the time to begin developing the focus and questions for the next survey.

The survey went out in 2019. It will come out again in 2021. What we do, and this isn't a majority of our programs following a census here is we look for opportunities to do improvements over time while still maintaining the data series. So the historical data series that really has the prevalence is going to be that Internet access and computer usage, what we would look to do over the next two years.