Today’s farmers have a vast amount of information at their fingertips to assist them in the running of their farm businesses. Are farmers using this information well or are they just showing off their latest electronic gadget and quoting useless statistics?
When I commenced my career as a dairy consultant over 30 years ago, it took a minimum of two years from the first farm visit to get to know a farm business. Today, one can know a farm business before you even meet the farmer or visit the farm. In fact, with access to the information available today, you can often know more about the farm business than the farmer himself.
Many farmers do not even realise how much information is floating around online about their businesses.
This information revolution has hugely influenced the way farmers and their suppliers manage their businesses, but the sheer volume of data has left many struggling to understand what is important and what is not.