Technology | Spring 2010
Personal interaction trumps Internet.
By Jennifer Barber
These days, the first place many people go to get ag-related information is the Internet. Even so, is it possible that the Internet will soon replace talking to a real person? Jim Bessel doesn’t think so.
The senior agronomy specialist for the Canola Council says his organization tries to put as much information on its website as it can but, for example, when growers look at field trial data, Bessel still gets a lot of calls requesting more information. "Yes, they go to the site first, but in the end they still want to talk to a living person."
The Canola Council website is considered one of the most comprehensive crop sites in the industry. It gathers and shares information for use by canola growers, input suppliers, retailers, processors and marketers of canola and its by-products. It also provides educational material for those entering the industry, and links to professional development opportunities.
"In addition to growers, researchers and extension professionals come to our site for information, but even they want to talk to us about any outlying data that could have skewed the results," says Bessel. "That could mean where precisely the trial took place, what the weather conditions were like during any particular day of the trial, the impact of that weather during critical times of development, fertility packages used — things like that. While the information online gives a summary of the data, people often want more."
Like all Canadians, farmers’ use of the Internet has been steadily increasing. According to the 2006 Census of Agriculture, more than 75 per cent of farmers with computers used the Internet in their business. This number has likely increased substantially since then as high speed Internet becomes more accessible in rural areas. Farmers have also reported that the Internet plays a part in their business decision-making.
Bessel says the Canola Council site is probably the first place someone would go with a canola-based question. That is a significant change from in the past when an agronomist would have been their first call. However, he says agronomic research involves a number of factors, many that overlap. Professional agronomists can offer a more complete solution.
"It’s not that they don’t trust what they are reading," he adds. "When people come to a site like ours they know the site and information on it is reliable. And often our website will offer clear directions and answer their specific questions. Other times they’ll use the information they find online for background, then they’ll have questions and they give us a call."
He also says one limitation of the web is that information is not always easy to find. Search engines are often too broad and yield too many results to conveniently sift through. "Sometimes folks have a hard time finding information on the web, so we help them find what it is they are looking for," says Bessel. "We will get calls from farmers who want us to point them in the right direction to the data they are looking for from the web, and that might be all they need."
He says websites can make data more appealing to growers by continually updating it and providing reliable links. He also suggests growers look at when and where the data was collected before deciding if they should apply the findings to their operation.
Bessel points out that in the 25 years he’s worked as an agronomist, a lot has changed in how information is shared. However, while he sees the web’s value increase for farmers, and expects it to continue to do so, he says face-to-face visits will likely always be a key part of sharing agronomic information.
"Nothing beats time out in the field," he says. "Agriculture is a business that takes place outside. You can’t get a true sense of nature, and all it brings, from the Internet alone."
