The adoption and social impacts of information technology in U.S. agriculture

By 1986 (a decade after their invention) microprocessors had diffused to about 18 percent of all U.S. households and 6 percent of U.S. farmers. In addition to general consumer uses, farm households in the United States utilize microcomputers for such small business applications as record keeping, word‐processing, payroll handling, etc. A special application of microprocessor technology occurred in 1980–1981 when 200 Kentucky farmers participated in a trial of the Green Thumb Box, a video‐text system providing market, weather, and technological information. The nature of the information needs of U.S. farm people seems to fit well with the new information technologies built around the microprocessor, although little of this potential has yet been realized. Since that experiment, videotex has shown itself to have doubtful value as a channel for the distribution of agricultural information, leaving open the question of what might be the best technological vehicle for this audience. Research is needed on two issues: (1) the adoption and use of the new communication technologies, and (2) their social impacts on rural society.