An eAgriculture-Based Decision Support Framework for Information Dissemination

Agricultural Information Dissemination

The dissemination, “to spread or give out something, especially news, information, ideas, etc., to a lot of people” (Cambridge University Press, 2009), or delivery, “the carrying and turning over of letters, goods, etc., to a designated recipient or recipients” (Dictionary.com, LLC, 2009), of agricultural information is integral to facilitating the adoption of new farm technologies. The farmer needs to be aware of the best practices and advances in farm management and breeding. Information on general agronomy practices such as seeding, fertilizer, pest management, harvesting and marketing provides the knowledge base for farmers to make informed decisions. This is supported by Umber (2006) who reported that, for information to be used effectively by growers, it needs to be delivered in a format that can be easily integrated into grower decision making. However, this may only be effective if farmers have the skills to interpret this data and to make decisions relevant to their individual situations (Armstrong et al., 2007).