Are Older Farmers Using The Internet More?

Chuck Zimmerman

I’ve been meaning to post this for a few days. You get busy, the emails pile up, you know how it is. After reading this article on MarketingVox I wonder how the same study would apply to farmers. Are older farmers using the internet more or less? Just yesterday someone said that they bet that farm blog readers are “under 30.” I disagree with that based on my own experience but don’t have data to back it up. Are you a farmer reading this? If so, let me know your thoughts by commenting or emailing me.

This article on MarketingVox says that “U.S. online adults 55 years and older – the heaviest users of offline media – say the ability to access online content any time of the day (69.2 percent) and the greater accuracy of online information (67.5 percent) are the primary advantages of the internet versus TV, radio, magazines or newspapers, according to a Burst Media survey.” and “36.6 percent spend less time reading magazines now than a year ago; 44.1 percent spend less time reading newspapers; 44.0 percent spend less time listening to the radio; and 43.6 percent spend less time watching TV.” Media is becoming more fractionalized every day and I believe the same is true in agriculture.

We know that over half of all U. S. farmers are now online but we really don’t know a lot about their specific internet habits and how they use it for business. I’m hoping to learn more on Tuesday since the Gateway NAMA program is “how high-speed Internet access is changing how the agriculture industry does business.” The presenter will be Kip Pendleton of Agristar Global Networks.

BTW. If you go, stay for my blogging seminar afterward!

Farming, Internet