CAMROSE, Alta. – Each morning Lynne Jenkinson grabs her cup of coffee and heads to her computer to read the morning newspaper.
Unlike her city cousins, Jenkinson doesn’t get the paper delivered to her doorstep and reading the computer version keeps the self-confessed news junkie in touch.
“In rural Alberta it’s a very useful tool,” said Jenkinson, of Bawlf, Alta.
She is one of the growing number of farmers who are hooked onto the internet.
Experienced surfers
While the numbers are still vague,
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Russell Sawchuk said more than half the farmers coming to the Internet for Farmers course he teaches are now connected to the internet.
Most farmers have signed onto the internet in the past couple of months because of changes that eliminate long distance charges in rural areas.
After Jenkinson has finished reading the paper, she links up to the Canadian Wheat Board site to see if they’ve opened up the wheat contract for her area.
She may also visit Alberta Agriculture’s Ropin’ the Web site for the latest Alberta agriculture information. Or she might check her favorite Texas A & M site for helpful horticulture information.
“I’m an information junkie. If I see a website name I write it down and look it up.”
While Jenkinson hasn’t made money from her internet browsing yet, she says it will soon become as useful as a tractor.
“A computer is a tool you have to use.”
But after a day’s browsing of internet sites during the course, Dave Bright of New Norway wasn’t convinced the internet was a tool he needed on his farm yet.
Lots to sort through
“Frankly, I’m not convinced. You have to bypass a lot of junk to get to the good stuff.
“I can’t see it would really be an advantage to me,” said the pedigree seed farmer.
When Sawchuk typed in the word hay into the internet, 60,000 matching items were found. For Bright, time spent wading through websites could be better spent elsewhere.
“I can see it becoming like television.”
It wasn’t until the end of the day before Jim and Janet Richards of Mulhurst Bay, Alta. were convinced the internet could be a useful tool on their farm.
The morning was spent browsing through government and business sites from overseas asking for container loads of turkey gizzards or cow tongues each month.
Jim Richards said if farmers are going to take advantage of some of these contracts there will need to be a return to old fashioned co-operation between farmers.
But after spending the afternoon looking at information on Alberta Agriculture and the Western Producer’s site, the cow/calf and broiler chicken farmer was more interested in the internet as a tool he could use.
“I can see it developing. I can see getting a computer and getting a website in the future.”
