A four nation survey of farm information management and advanced farming systems: A descriptive analysis of survey responses

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the descriptive results of the survey responses that explore the perception of advanced information systems among four European countries: i.e. Denmark, Finland, Germany and Greece. The study evaluates the potential time savings associated with office tasks for information management and the likely adoption of advanced farming systems and precision farming practices. The survey results suggest that there are differences in weekly hours allocated to office tasks and its distribution across countries. However, there seems to be a potential benefit for introducing labour saving farm information management systems in relation to budgeting procedures, field planning and paperwork to deal with subsidy applications and public authorities. More than 40% of the respondent farms from Germany, Denmark and Finland seem to be unsure about usefulness of computers in dealing with official institutions and consumers. The extent to which the finding is linked to the budgeted time allocated to office tasks is worth pursuing. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.