Smartphone Use Rises Among Farmers

Farmers are using their phones for more than talking. According to a February 2015 Farm Journal Media survey, 69% of farmers today own smartphones. Based on plans to purchase, 87% of farmers will use smartphones by 2016. Prior surveys show that only 14% of farmers owned a smartphone in 2009, and that number has grown roughly 10% each subsequent year.

The survey found that farmers use smartphones for:

Phone calls – 87%
Text messages – 85%
Email – 75%
Online searches – 72%
Photographs – 45%
Social media – 37%
Banking – 29%

Tablet use is also expecting a big increase, as 12% of respondents plan to purchase a tablet computer within the next 12 months, increasing the percentage of farmers who own a tablet to 59% by 2016 . S