Iowa Ag Connection - 55 Percent of Iowa Farms Use Computers

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55 Percent of Iowa Farms Use Computers
Iowa Ag Connection - 08/21/2017

Seventy-four percent of Iowa farms own or lease a computer, 2 percentage points higher than the U.S. percentage, according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service Farm Computer Use report. Seventy-six percent of Iowa farms report having access to a computer, unchanged from 2015. Farms using computers for their farm business increased to 55 percent, up 2 percentage points from 2015 and still well above the national percentage, which rose to 47 percent.

Seventy-four percent of Iowa farms have Internet access, unchanged from 2015. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection is now the most common method of accessing the Internet, with 26 percent of farms in Iowa with access to the Internet utilizing DSL. In 2017, dialup service declined to 3 percent, down from 5 percent in 2015. The proportion of Iowa farms using satellite service decreased to 18 percent and cable modem service increased to 8 percent.

In 2017, USDA-NASS added two additional methods that farmers could select for accessing the Internet. Fiberoptic and mobile Internet service for a cell phone or other device are the two access methods added to the Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report. Fiber-optic was used by 8 percent of the farms, and mobile Internet service was used by 17 percent. However, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection continues to be the most common method of accessing the Internet, with 29 percent of the farms in the United States using it, down from 30 percent in 2015. A satellite connection, at 21 percent, remained steady from 2015. Other reported methods of accessing the Internet include cable modem service, dialup service, and other or don't know. Cable modem service is at 15 percent, up 3 percentage points from 2015. Dialup service is at 2 percent, down 1 percentage point from 2015. Other or unknown is at 8 percent, up 3 percentage points from 2015.

Nationally, 73 percent of farms have computer access. Of those farmers having computer access, 72 percent, up 1 percent from 2015, own or lease a computer. Computer access by national sales class is 71 percent for sales class $1,000-$9,999; 70 percent for sales class $10,000-$99,999; 76 percent for sales class $100,000-$249,999; and 85 percent for sales class $250,000 or more.

Computer usage for farm business at 47 percent nationally, is up 4 percentage points from 2015. This compares with usage by the four geographic regions: West (49 percent), North Central (50 percent), Northeast (48 percent), and the South (42 percent). Comparing computer usage by crop and livestock farms nationally, 52 percent of the crop producers use the computer for farm business, compared to 42 percent of the livestock producers. A new questions in 2017, reported 39 percent of producers nationally use a tablet or smart phone for farm business.

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