The Information Revolution
9 December 2008 While biotechnology and consolidation have altered the international crop protection industry in more specific, immediate ways, the creation of the Internet and digital communication and data management tools have changed how the entire world works.
Information that used to be hard to find is now a mouse-click away, and communicating over large distances has gone from a difficult (and expensive) task to an immediate, simple effort with more detail than previously possible. Web sites have become marketing tools and industry forums where farmers, ag-chem companies, academics, and any other interested parties can make contacts and exchange information – and maybe make a sale.
Kristen Sukalac and Patrick Heffer of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) bring another strong point to light: for many farmers, the Internet may be a useful tool, but another has been even more important. “Mobile phones,” Sukalac and Heffer noted. “For the millennium, the UK National Farmers Union surveyed its members to find out what the century’s most important technological innovation for farming was. They were stunned that the reply was cell phones.”
Crop protection and production become more globally interconnected each year, and the growth of information and communication technologies have made that possible.
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