Digital Divide Persists, Though 53% Of Farms Conduct Business On Internet

By Chuck Abbott

More than half of U.S. farm operators say they do business over the internet, a 13-point increase in six years, as ownership of computers and access to the internet blossomed, according to USDA. Nonetheless, the Pew Research Center says rural Americans are much less likely than their city counterparts to have a smartphone or broadband service at home.

“Nationally, 75% of farms reported having access to the internet, with 73% of farms having access to a desktop or laptop computer,” said the USDA’s Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report, compiled every two years. The new report was based on a survey of more than 20,000 operators in June.

Some 53% of farms said they conducted business on the internet, compared to 40% in 2013. Operators were nearly as likely to say they used a desktop or laptop computer for farm business — 49% — as they would report using a smartphone or tablet, 52%. They were slightly more likely to purchase materials digitally than to market their goods online.