How farmers mobile devices impacts how to market to them - Rhea Kaiser

Mobile is the future. And farmers are adopting the technology faster than ever

Across the world mobile phone use is increasing year after year – and it’s no different in agriculture. While farmers may not have been early adopters for mobile technologies, their usage is certainly increasing every year at a steady rate.

As referenced in Float Mobile Learning’s “mAgriculture: The Application of Mobile Computing to the Business of Farming,” a Successful Farming magazine study shows the adoption rate jumped from 10 percent to 40 percent in a two-year period. Today, 94 percent of farmers own a mobile phone.

Despite the impressive figures and trends, the U.S. agriculture industry is behind the curve when it comes to the use of mobile technology to support production and business decisions.

Desktop vs. Mobile
According to the mAgriculture study, just 17 percent of farmers initially used their mobile device as much or more than their desktop computer. Within three years, that tripled to 52 percent. If these trends continue, an estimated 88 percent of farmers will use their mobile device as much or more than their desktop computer.

The survey revealed that the majority of farmers use their mobile device when in their cab or the field. They also use smartphones and tablets in their office or home, just not as often.

How do farmers utilize mobile devices in the field?
In the past, farmers relied on the radio and TV to find out what was going on in the commodity markets. If they found an unknown pest or disease attacking their crops, they likely had to contact their local agronomist to find out what it was and how to treat it. And generally the treatment was a less-than-perfect, one-size-fits-all approach.

Mobile is now one of the primary tools helping farmers increase efficiency in their operations for things besides checking the weather and markets. Many of the mobile uses for agriculture mentioned in the mAgriculture study originated in developing countries, and introduction of these applications has just started in the United States and Canada. These include:

• Animal tracking and identification
• Monitor water or flood levels
• Indicate warning for frost events
• Monitor crop health, rainfall, temperature and other meteorological data
• Track shipments of perishable crops and crop inputs
• Monitor equipment movement and performance
• Web cameras to view hazardous or remote areas
• Odor, gas and other environmental indicators for livestock housing facilities
• Integrating GPS data into geographic information systems

What does all this mean for marketers looking to reach farmers?

1. A responsive website is a must. Craft your website to provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices.
2. Mobile must be top of mind for all efforts. How does your email campaign look on a phone and tablet? Does your weather app function properly on these devices? Do social efforts properly align with mobile? These are questions that must be made a priority when creating an integrated campaign.

Mobile is the future, and farmers are adopting the technology faster than ever.