New Information about ICT in Agriculture of Czech Republic

Agricultural Advisory Coordination Centre in Institute of Agricultural and Food Information Prague was attended in interesting Project

together with The Department of Education of the Czech University of Agriculture, Prague, and the Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Department of the University of Reading, UK.

The fieldwork for former studies of the information systems for Czech agriculture, during 1994 – 1998 was carried out by graduate teachers of Agriculture in the vocational Agriculture Secondary Schools in various locations within the Czech Republic The farms studied were categorised as small-scale (average size about 50 ha) and large-scale (average about 500 ha) private farms, new cooperative farms and company farms. Conclusions were drawn about the farms, farmers, farming systems, sources accessed for information needs, and the levels of economic optimism about the future of the farms.

The information systems were still at a relatively early stage of development, following the political changes in 1989. Earlier, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in the subsequent state of Czechoslovakia before the Second World War, there were organised arrangements for farmer education and advice, based on the Agriculture Secondary Schools. But in 1998, for example, the use of consultants by farmers, and of computers in managing information, were recent introductions.

It was therefore considered that, in 2003, a repeated study (with some new elements) would be useful to those currently concerned with developing the information system for farmers. The study could also be of academic interest; there have been few attempts made internationally to trace the changes occurring in the use of information, following a major re-organisation of a nation’s structure of agriculture such as was witnessed in the Czech Republic after 1989.

The new study was assisted and supported with funding by the Czech Ministry of Agriculture and the British Council in Prague. The fieldwork was again done by the same Agriculture teachers (and a few additional teachers), and the Ministry of Agriculture made available some of its Farm Consultants for this work. It was therefore possible to interview more farmers than in the first (1998) study.

Since 1989 has been re-structured Agriculture.

The new commercial farming is supported by personal information systems through which farmers access and manage the information used in their decisions. A study was made in 1998 of how these information systems had developed and were currently functioning. This study was repeated in 2003 using data collected by teachers of agriculture and by consultants to farmers. The data were combined in the analysis.

Farming in 2003 is shown to differ, in some important ways that affect the management of information, from that seen in 1998. Small farms have more crop production, and a little less livestock and mixed farming systems. This trend is reversed on the larger private and company farms. Ecological or organic production has substantially increased. Integrated approaches to using inputs have decreased. Farming systems have become simpler. On the small farms (especially) and the large private farms, dependence on family labour has increased since 1998, and there is increasing use of contract services. The farmers have a relatively low average age.

The 1998 conclusion that the farmers’ educational and agricultural educational levels have a major influence on the number of information sources they use is confirmed by the 2003 study.

The kinds of information stated by respondents on all categories of farms to be most important were very little changed. The highest priority remains marketing, processing and selling. Otherwise, the demand for kinds of information is quite stable.

The actual sources of information and advice are changing in their relative importance, though about half have remained the same. Print media remain most important. Social sources are decreasing in importance, and professional sources such as consultants, PCs and (to some extent) research and university sources are increasing. The horizontal transfer of information and advice between farmers with similar farms remains very important. Diaries and notebooks remain important storage devices. There has been a large investment in PCs on farms since 1998. They are now used on 68 % of small farms, 84 % of large farms, all the company farms and 98 % of the cooperative farms. There is much use of the Internet.

Consultants now occupy an important place in the information systems. Satisfaction with the quality of consultancy work is high in terms of reliability and usefulness. A good start has been made to develop an effective consultancy service for farmers.

Company and cooperative farm respondents remain at about the same level of economic optimism as in 1998, but on the small and large private farms there has been about a 5 % reduction in economic optimism. About half the respondents are positive about the effects on their farms of accession to the EU, and about one quarter expect some adverse effects.

Many farms now have diversified enterprises, and more expect to do so in future. The most common diversification, in general, is through farm shops, attracting visitors, ecological (organic) production, energy crops, hunting, fishing, agro tourism, food processing and hunting. Presumably new kinds of information and new sources will become evident in future.

The 2003 study contributes to future information policy by suggesting what new information will be needed, and how this may relate to rural development. It also indicates that farmers can be relied on to use their initiatives to acquire the education, information and advice needed for future business management. This is supported by historical evidence. It is likely that computerised data bases as electronic devices, and consultants as human components of personal information systems, will be increasingly used to support the rapidly changing farming industry in this remarkable period of time. The reservations that respondents have about facing the future with economic optimism reflects the view that farming in Europe is now conducted in a market place of confused and uncertain producers, sellers and (most importantly) consumers.

Source book: Change in information systems in Czech agriculture