Computer Technology and Agriculture

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Computer Technology and Agriculture

• Gordon Groover
• Extension Economist
• Farm Management

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Getting Started Buying or upgrading your farms
computer system

• Hardware
• Y2K
• Software
• Internet sites for Ag

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Buy The F.A.R.M. Computers(Fast Affordable
Really Modern)
400 MHz, Pentium II 64 Mb RAM 8 GB Hard
Drive 32X CD-ROM Monitor 16 viewable area .28
dot pitch 56k Modem
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P.O.N.D. (Prints Out Nice Documents) Printers
Ink Jet B/W or Color 4 ppm BW 2 ppm Color 600
dpi
Get the FARM/POND Combination for ONLY 800 Bu.
Corn or 5 500 Feeder Calves!!!
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Computer Devices
Input
Output
Input/Output
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
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Y2K and Your Farms Computer

• Why is it a problem?
• Dates abbreviated as 77 not 1977 to save space
• After 12/31/99 is 77 1977 or 2077?
• Why should you be concerned?
• Problems with your farms record keeping system
  and financial data

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The Y2K problem is 2-fold

• Operating systems (DOS, Window 3.x, and Windows
  95 older than 1995 or 1996)
• Software
• Off-the-Shelf (Quicken, QuickBooks , Lotus,
  Farmworks, etc.)
• Custom software developed for your business

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Addressing the Operating System Problem

• Contact the original manufacturer
• Determine if its Y2K compatible
• If not, find out if there are fixes or patches
• If no fixes, consider purchasing a new computer
  or hiring someone to test your system

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Addressing Off-the-self Software Problems

• Know the specific version of the software you are
  using, e.g., Quicken 5.0c
• Contact the software company to verify Y2K
  compatibility
• If not consider upgrading to a current version

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Addressing Customized Software Problems

• Contact original programmer for recommendations
  and/or help
• Consider alternative software solutions

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Financial Record Keeping Softwaree.g., Microsoft
Money, Quicken, etc.

• Advantages
• Easy to use
• Cash based
• Cheap
• Good starting point
• Flexible

• Disadvantages
• Not an accounting program
• Not designed for Ag
• Can change entries

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Accounting Softwaree.g., Peachtree, FarmWorks,
RedWing, QuickBooks, etc.

• Advantages
• Complete accounting program
• Payroll
• Invoicing
• Some designed for Ag

• Disadvantages
• Some not designed for Ag
• More expensive
• Must know some accounting principles
• Difficult to record piece-rate wages

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Spreadsheet Softwaree.g., Quattro, Lotus, and
Excel

• Electronic sheet of paper
• Ideal for what if analysis
• Budgeting
• Simple crop/pesticide/livestock records
  applications
• Simple database applications

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General Database Softwaree.g., Access, Paradox,
dBase, etc.

• Easier to use
• Sort and extract information
• Handle large amounts of data
• Wizards that help setup applications
• Useful for crop/pesticide/livestock records
• Maintain customer list for direct marketing

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Beef Records Softwaree.g., Cattle Pro 2000, Cows
Sense, Red Wing,

• Windows based software
• Herd data and individual data
• Herd health - reproduction data
• MPPA scores
• Sire and calf identification
• Herd data and analysis

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Dairy recordsPCDART

• Comprehensive herd data
• Individual animal data
• Text and graphical data display
• Integrated with on-farm testing
• Time required to become proficient

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Crop and Field Recordse.g., FarmTrac, FBS
Systems, FMS/Harvest, Red Wing

• Advantages
• Track all field activities
• Sort data by crop/field/farm/year
• Base for pesticide reporting

• Disadvantages
• Expensive
• Based on Midwest conditions
• Some lack flexibility
• Some require digital farm maps

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Source of Information on the World Wide Web
Visit the following site for my list of WWW sites
for Agriculture http//www.aaec.vt.edu/fbm/vfb.h
tm