Virtual Agronomy: Internet supports on-farm innovation in Australia

To help overcome barriers of distance and costs, the Internet is being used in Australia to facilitate virtual meeting spaces and online communication, allowing farmers and researchers to discuss issues and share data virtually.

Recent reports from the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation describe some of the results.

Virtual Field Day for Improved Farmer Decision Making reports on a project that used web-based technologies to distribute information on cropping trials to farmers. More on this virtual agronomy project (and on a similar project from the UK).

A Virtual Meeting Space to Support Farmers Learning About Natural Resource Management reports on the use of  internet enabled virtual meetings among farmers and researchers.

Using low cost, low-bandwidth Internet conferencing to support farmer group operations and learning reports on the use of Microsoft NetMeeting™ to facilitate access to research and information without leaving homes.