When it comes to new technology, studies and surveys go out of date almost as fast the gadget itself. However, there is still a need to follow it all, so that mobile developers know where the demand is and farmers and communication professionals are all aware of where the conversations are taking place.
The latest study on smartphones and social media use in agriculture is coming out of Ontario and was commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs, with the help of Ipsos. The results are nothing short of remarkable when it comes to the rapid adoption of new technologies on the farm and are likely to be similar in other parts of Canada as well.
Here are a few key points:
- 69% reported having a smartphone (BlackBerry still the most popular, followed by iPhone and then Android based devices).
- Half of those report their smartphone is now essential to how they do business.
- Access to E-Mail, messaging applications and the internet is the three most popular applications.
- The top agriculture applications relate to weather, market prices and finance, like stock market information or mobile banking.
- 84% have used a social media site in the past year.
- Twitter, Facebook & YouTube are the three most popular sites.
- Sharing information, networking and sales are the three most common reasons why industry stakeholders use social media for business.
(The complete report is available here: http://onvegetables.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/highlights2.pdf)
Looking back to data from Farm Credit Canada that is a year old, when only 29% of producers reported having a smartphone, and you can see this technology is quickly becoming a favourite. Add in the fact that a year ago FCC reported that only half of producers were using a social media site a year ago, it too has become a popular way to mine out ideas, information and contacts.
Looking a little deeper into the numbers is Janice LaBoeuf, a vegetable specialist with OMAFRA, and the team lead on this survey. She says they wanted to have a look at how agriculture usage of mobile technology and social media was different from the general public. What she was surprised with was just how many industry stakeholders were connected with the smartphone. “A very high percentage of respondents have smartphones,” she says. “I was (also) surprised at how many smartphone users consider their smartphone essential to their agricultural work. I imagine that even a year ago, that number would have been lower, but there are more and more tools made for agriculture or that fit to agriculture all the time.”
Heading into Manitoba, and we find Wendy Elias-Lopez at the province’s Canola Growers’ Association. As the lead for the @CanolaGrowers Twitter account, Elias-Lopez says there is more interest in social media as producers look to connect in real time. When developing social media plans she says a lot of what they are now trying to do is measure the engagement. “There are lots of free tools for measurement out there and we start off at the top by tracking impressions. Our priority is to expand the reach of our messages and turn those into impressions more personal one-on-one engagements with both our growers and consumers.” She also notes that with the adoption of auto-steer technology in the province, many farmers are now finding themselves trying to connect while they wait to get to the end of a row. “A while back, I asked if anyone was “seeding and tweeting” on twitter and I received a good amount of responses along with photos. It started a conversation about the benefits of auto-steer amongst some of our followers on twitter.”
This information from OMAFRA shows that social media and mobile technology is quickly becoming part of the everyday fabric on the farm. These numbers are showing now signs of slowing up, and before long we could be looking at near full penetration of smartphone technology in farmer hands, opening up the door for more social media engagement from the cab of the tractor. How producers engage and use their phones is still up for debate, but highly effective applications are soon to be in high demand.