The number of farms with computers and internet access in South Dakota has gone up slightly in the past few years.
Based on responses from farmers to a US Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service survey conducted earlier this year, 79% of South Dakota farms have access to computers in 2019. The national average is 73%.
Eighty-two percent of farms in South Dakota have internet access in 2019, up from 79% in 2017– the last time this data was collected.
Nationally, the new data shows 75% of farms reported having access to the internet, with 73% of farms having access to a desktop or laptop.
Over half of the farms in the United States used a smartphone or tablet to conduct farm business, compared to 44% in 2017. In 2019, 26% of farms used satellite and 22% of farms used a Digital Subscriber Line, known as DSL, to access the internet. Since 2017, Satellite and DSL continue to be the most popular choices US farmers use to access the internet.
The 2019 computer usage estimates are based on responses from more than 20,000 agricultural operations and represent all sizes and types of farms.
Access the National publication for this release at https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/h128nd689.
