Adoption of ICT in horticulture : Confronting scientists opinions with practice in Flanders, Belgium

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1 Adoption of ICT in horticulture : Confronting scientists opinions with practice in Flanders, Belgium Nicole Taragola a and Dirk Van Lierde b a Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Social Sciences Unit, Merelbeke, Belgium, nicole.taragola@ilvo.vlaanderen.be b Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Social Sciences Unit, Merelbeke, Belgium, dirk.vanlierde@ilvo.vlaanderen.be Abstract At the 5 th EFITA/WCCA conference it was indicated that ICT adoption in agriculture remains a universal and significant problem (Gelb and Parker, ). At the conference a paper on scientists opinions with respect to ICT adoption in horticulture was presented (Taragola and Gelb, ). The objective of the current paper is to confront scientists opinions with the opinions and behaviour of horticultural growers in Flanders, Belgium. Data were collected at a sample of 208 horticultural businesses in Flanders in. The results reveal that 90,9 the growers own a PC. χ²-tests show a statistically significant association with business size, age and education level of the firm manager. At the holdings without a PC lack of ICT technical proficiency, too hard to use/unfriendly and fear of technology are more important factors limiting ICT adoption than at the holdings with a PC which is not used for business purposes. At these businesses, the most limiting factor is the understanding how to get a benefit from the various ICT options. These results are in line with the opinions of the scientists in the EFITA questionnaires over time, which indicated a shift from ICT technical proficiency as limiting factor towards the lack of understanding how to get a benefit of the various ICT options (Gelb et al., 2004). At the businesses with a PC for business purposes, the results reveal that the use of ICT for management purposes is not fully exploited. The PC is used mostly for home banking, communication with the auction, invoicing, word processing, etc. In the future more research will be needed to address this problem. Key words: ICT adoption, horticulture, EFITA questionnaire, Flanders 1 Introduction At the 5 th EFITA/WCCA conference in Vila Real, Portugal it was indicated that ICT adoption in agriculture remains a universal and significant problem (Gelb and Parker, ). At the conference a paper on scientists opinions with respect to ICT adoption in horticulture was presented (Taragola and Gelb, ). These opinions were obtained by distributing the EFITA questionnaire among horticultural scientists at the 2004 symposium on horticultural economics and management of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), held at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. It was found that adoption constraints include end user proficiency, ICT benefit awareness, time, cost of technology, system integration and software availability. The factors no perceived economic benefits, do not understand the value of ICT and not enough time to spend on technology were mainly indicated by respondents originating from developed countries. According to scientists opinions in these countries the understanding of how to get a benefit from the use of ICT seems to be one of the most important thresholds for ICT adoption. The research objective of the current paper is to confront scientists opinions with the opinions and behaviour of horticultural growers in a developed country, more specifically in Flanders, situated in the northern part of Belgium.

2 2 Methodology Data on opinions and behaviour of horticultural growers with respect to ICT adoption were collected in by means of face-to-face interviews at a sample of 208 horticultural businesses in Flanders, Belgium. The sample was composed of horticultural businesses specialised in glasshouse vegetables (n = 64), vegetables in the open air (n = 29), ornamental plants (n = 62) and permanent cultures (fruit growing, nursery, etc.; n = 53). The interviewers used a structured questionnaire including questions on adoption of personal s, internet and for business purposes (use/non-use, frequency of use, applications, persons that use ICT, type of internet connection, etc.). The theory of diffusion of innovations (Rogers, 1995) offers a conceptual framework for analysing the adoption of ICT. According to this theory, besides external variables, personal characteristics of the firm manager and firm characteristics do have an impact on the adoption of innovations. On the basis of this theory, hypotheses on the impact of personal characteristics of the firm manager (age, education level) and business characteristics (firm type, business size, modernity of the business) on ICT adoption can be formulated and tested. At horticultural businesses which use ICT for business purposes the actual use is evaluated (applications, frequency of use). At the 2004 symposium on horticultural economics and management of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) factors limiting the use and consequences of not using ICT today and in the future in horticulture were determined by 31 participants from 17 different countries. The respondents were mainly specialists in farm management and entrepreneurship experienced and familiar with ICT in horticulture. The resulting list of factors was presented to the horticultural growers without a PC and to those with a PC which is not used for business purposes. They were asked to indicate the factors that were relevant for their own situation. All respondents in the survey were asked to indicate the consequences of not using ICT today and in the future. The methodology used allows us to compare scientists opinions with practice in horticulture. 3 Results 3.1 Adoption of personal s, internet and According to the theory of diffusion of innovations (Rogers, 1995) personal characteristics of the firm manager and business characteristics do have an impact on the adoption of innovations. The theory states that the impact of age is not clear, but earlier adopters will have more years of formal education. In general earlier adopters do have larger and more modern business units than later adopters. As all firm types (glasshouse vegetables, vegetables in open air, ornamental plants, permanent cultures) can benefit from ICT adoption, one can assume that firm type will have no influence. The results of the interviews reveal that 189 of the 208 horticultural growers in the sample (90,9 %) own a personal. Internet and are available at 174 of the 189 businesses with a PC (92,1 %). In order to test the impact of the personal characteristics (age, education level) of the firm manager on ICT adoption, the holdings in the sample were classified into four age groups (<35; 35-<45; 45-<55; >=55) and five educational classes (primary school, vocational school, lower secondary school, higher secondary school and higher school). In order to test the association between the adoption of personal s, internet and on the one hand and the personal characteristics of the firm manager on the other hand, a χ²-test (Pearson and linearby-linear association) was performed. The Pearson χ² is a measure for the association between variables in a two-way contingency table, while the linear-by-linear association test gives an idea of the linear relation between these variables. The results of the tests show a statistically significant and linear negative relation of age with the adoption of a personal, whereas no statistically significant relation with the adoption of internet and could be found. The negative effect of age on adoption of personal s is in agreement with the findings of some other researchers (e.g. Batte et al., 1990; Warren et al., 2000), whereas other researchers did not find any negative association with age (Putler and Zilberman, 1988; Gibbon and Warren, 1992; Warren et al., 1996; Taragola et al., 2001). A statistically significant positive relation of education with the adoption of a personal, internet and was found. This result is in accordance with the innovation diffusion theory and the results of other researchers (e.g. Putler and Zilberman, 1988; Batte et al., 1990; Bonny, 1992; Gibbon and Warren, 1992; Warren et al., 2000).

3 In order to test the impact of the business characteristics (firm type, business size and modernity of the business) on ICT adoption, the holdings in the sample were classified into 4 firm types (glasshouse vegetables, vegetables in open air, ornamental plants and permanent cultures), 3 classes of business size (< 25 Standard Gross Units or S.G.U., 25<=S.G.U.<50, >= 50 S.G.U.) and 4 modernity classes (>= 75 %, 50-<75 %, 25-<50 % and < 25 %). The firm type depends on the relative importance of the Standard Gross Margins, or S.G.M. of the cultivated crops (Van Lierde and Taragola, 2000). The business size is calculated by multiplying the cultivated area of each crop to the corresponding S.G.M., resulting in the total S.G.M. of the business. A S.G.M (average of the S.G.M. s for the accounting years 1998 to 2002) of Euro is corresponding to 1 S.G.U. Modernity of the business is calculated as the book value in percent of the replacement value of the durable goods (buildings, machinery, glasshouses, etc.), ranging from 0 % (low modernity) to 100 % (high modernity). The results of the analyses show no statistically significant influence of firm type on adoption of personal s, internet and . However, as expected on the basis of theoretical considerations, a strongly statistically significant and positive linear association was found between business size and adoption of personal s, internet and . These results are in accordance with the findings of other researchers (e.g. Putler and Zilberman, 1988; Batte et al., 1990; Bonny, 1992; Gibbon and Warren, 1992; Warren et al., 2000). Also for modernity of the business a statistically significant and positive linear association was found with the adoption of personal s, internet and Use of the personal, internet and for business purposes 173 (91,5 %) of the 189 businesses with PC use it for business purposes, whereas 152 (80,4 %) use it for private purposes. Internet is used for business purposes at 163 of the 174 businesses with internet connection (93,7 %), whereas 144 businesses (82,8 %) use it for private purposes. From the 174 businesses with 154 (89,0 %) use it for business purposes and 142 (81,6 %) for private purposes. On the basis of the χ²-statistics there is no significant association of the use of PC, internet and for business purposes with the age of the firm manager. However, use of the PC, internet and for private purposes is statistically associated with the age of the firm manager, but this relation is not linear. The highest use was observed in the age category from 35 to 45 years and the lowest use in the age categories of 55 years and more and lower than 35 years. Use of PC, internet and for business purposes is not significantly influenced by the education level of the firm manager, which is also the case for the use of PC for private purposes. However, a statistically significant but no linear association can be found between the education level of the firm manager and the use of internet and for private purposes. Only 57,4 the firm managers with primary school are using internet and for private purposes, while this percentage is increasing to 90,5 the firm managers with higher school. According to the χ²-tests, no significant association can be found between firm type and business size on the one hand, and the use of s, internet and for business purposes on the other hand. Modernity of the business has a statistically significant and positive linear relation with the use of s, internet and for business purposes. 96,4 the holdings in modernity class 1 (>= 75 %) are using a PC for business purposes, while this percentage is decreasing to 72,1 % at the holdings in modernity class 4 (<25 %). Business size has a significant influence on the use of s, internet and for private purposes, with a smaller percentage at small (S.G.U. <25) and large (S.G.U. >=50) holdings. A possible explanation is that a separate private is used for private purposes at the large holdings. Modernity of the business does not show any significant association with the use of s, internet and for private purposes. At the 189 horticultural businesses with a personal, the PC is used mostly by the firm manager (83,1 the businesses), the spouse/partner (65,6 %) and the children (66,5%). Interesting is that only at 7,6 the businesses the PC is used by the personnel, which can be explained by the fact that they are mainly involved in production activities. Based on χ²-statistics there is a positive association between the use of PC, internet and by the spouse/partner and business size. At more than half of the small businesses the spouse/partner is using ICT (PC: 54,4 %; internet : 52,9 %; 52,9 %), while this percentage is increasing to more than 70 percent at the large businesses (PC : 80,0 %; internet : 82,1 %; e- mail : 74,4 %). This finding is not surprising, since research on task allocation at Belgian glasshouse holdings revealed that the spouse/partner is mainly involved in financial-administrative tasks (Taragola et al., 2004). The influence of the personal characteristics of the firm manager and the characteristics of the business on the frequency of PC use for business purposes is analysed by means of χ²-statistics. The majority of the 173 horticultural growers using a PC for business purposes use it daily (113 growers; 65,3 %), while the PC is used once a week by 35 growers (20,2 %) and less than once a week by 25 growers

4 (14,5 %). The χ²-statistics do not show any significant association with the personal characteristics of the firm manager and the business characteristics. In the questionnaire the respondents which use a PC for business purposes were asked to indicate the applications used. The PC is used most frequently for home banking, communication with the auction (consulting prices), invoicing, word processing, etc. The results reveal that the use of ICT for management purposes (e.g. decision support systems) is not fully exploited. 3.3 Factors limiting the use of ICT by horticultural growers During the EFITA conferences (Gelb et al., 2004; Gelb & Parker, ) and the ISHS 2004 symposium (Taragola & Gelb, ) several factors limiting the use of ICT by farmers and horticultural growers were determined. In the interviews the list of factors resulting from these questionnaires was presented to the horticultural growers without a PC (n = 19) or with a PC which is not used for business purposes (n = 16). They were asked to indicate the factors which were important in limiting the use of ICT, according to their own perception. In table 1 the results of the interviews are presented, together with the results of the scientists at the ISHS 2004 symposium. The results reveal that the most important factors limiting ICT adoption of the 19 horticultural growers without a PC are inability to use ICT (78,9 %), too hard to use/unfriendly (47,4 %), not enough time (42,1 %) and lack of technological infrastructure (36,8 %). At the 16 horticultural businesses where a PC is available, but not used for business purposes, other factors limiting ICT adoption for business purposes come at the forefront. At these holdings the most important factors are lack of training (87,5 %), no perceived economic or other benefits (68,8 %), inability to use ICT (62,5 %) and not enough time (62,5 %). At the holdings without a PC lack of ICT technical proficiency, too hard to use/unfriendly and fear of technology are more important factors limiting ICT adoption than at the holdings with a PC which is not used for business purposes. At the last mentioned holdings, the understanding how to get a benefit from the various ICT options is a more important limiting factor. These results are in line with the opinions of the scientists in the EFITA questionnaires over time, which indicated a shift from ICT technical proficiency as limiting factor towards the lack of understanding how to get a benefit of the various ICT options (Gelb et al., 2004). At the 173 businesses which use the PC for business purposes, the results of the questionnaire reveal that the actual use of ICT can be improved. Most of the horticultural growers use the PC for business administration (word, excel, ), on-line banking and communication with the auction, which is in line with the findings of other researchers (e.g. Warren, 2003; Rosskopf & Wagner, ). However, as indicated by the scientists in the EFITA questionnaire (Taragola & Gelb, ) adoption of decision support systems (DSS), production models, planning tools, in horticulture is still a problem that needs to be addressed. 3.4 Consequences for horticultural growers not using ICT now and in the future Table 2 presents the perceived consequences for horticultural producers not using ICT now and in the future, as determined by the scientists of the ISHS 2004 symposium and by the respondents in the survey. The perceived consequences for horticultural producers not using ICT are significantly influenced by the current use of ICT. 78,9 the horticultural producers without a assume that there will be no consequences, while this percentage is decreasing to 37,0 % at the businesses where a is used for business purposes. These percentages are higher than those indicated in the 2004 ISHS symposium, where only 13,0 the respondents assumed that there will be no consequences. 15,8 the horticultural producers without a identify a loss of competitiveness and/or efficiency, whereas this percentage amounts to 48,6 % at the businesses where a PC is used for business purposes. Remarkable is that 77,4 the scientists at the ISHS 2004 symposium indicated a loss of competitiveness and/or efficiency, resulting in the conclusion that the consequences of not using ICT are perceived more seriously by the scientists than by the horticultural producers themselves. However for the horticultural producers this perception is influenced by the actual degree of ICT adoption. 4 Conclusion In general one can conclude that the opinions of the scientists are in line with the results of our research in horticulture. The shift from ICT technical proficiency as a limiting factor towards the lack of understanding how to get a benefit of the various ICT options was confirmed. However the consequences of not using ICT are perceived more seriously by the scientists than by the horticultural producers themselves. In the future more research will be needed on the adoption of ICT for management support.

5 Table 1 What are the factors limiting the use of ICT by horticultural growers? Limiting factors ISHS 2004 (*) Countries : group 1 : without group 2 : with but no use for business n = 16 group 1 + group 2 n = 19 n = Inability of farmers to use ICT No perceived economic or other benefits 3. Too hard to use/ unfriendly Lack of technological infrastructure Cost of technology Not useful information/not relevant problems 7. Fear of technology Not enough time to spend on technology Do not understand the value of ICT Lack of training Better alternatives Personal impediments 13. Lack of integration with other farm systems Data input takes too much time Lack of good software Business is too small Other ** * countries with at least one participant from that country replying yes. ** The following factors were identified in the EFITA questionnaires as "other": inadequate assistance in implementation of ICT, farmer s traditions, farmer s age, type and size of farm, ICT is not dependable, lack of managerial experience, no connection to research, no connection to research and language. For comparison the following factors were listed in the 2004 ISHS questionnaire: lack of user confidence in the systems, mismatch between farmer s and developer's perceptions, suitable system unavailability, lack of user involvement, no incentive, lack of confidence in results, unsatisfactory support by extension, lack of reliable data, lack of communication between users, resistance to change, external factors, fear of loss of job (extension), need for personal touch (extension), better alternatives, personal impediments, lack of integration with other various farm systems and adoption-inhibiting constraints.

6 Table 2 What are the consequences for horticultural growers not using ICT now and in the future? ISHS 2004 Countr. : group 1 : without group 2 : with but no use for business n = 16 group 3 : with use for business n = 19 n = 173 No consequence (1) (1) 50.0 (1) 37.0 (1) Loss of competitiveness/ efficiency (2) (2) 25.0 (2) 48.6 (2) Becoming "out of touch" (3) (3) 75.0 (3) 67.6 (3) Wasting resources (4) (4) 18.8 (4) 28.3 (4) Go out of business (5) (5) 37.5 (5) 34.7 (5) (1) χ² = 12,860; df = 2; p = 0,002 *** (2) χ² = 9,945; df = 2; p = 0,007 *** (3) χ² = 3,729; df = 2; p = 0,155 (4) χ² = 3,290; df = 2; p = 0,193 (5) χ² = 0,137; df = 2; p = 0,934 5 References Gelb, E., Parker, C.. Is ICT for agriculture still an important issue? last accessed March 2007 Gelb, E., Wagner, P., Rosskopf, K., Parker, C., Schiefer, G ICT adoption A summary of the EFITA questionnaire, Proceedings AFITA Conference, Bangkok Rogers, E Diffusion of innovations. The Free Press, New York Rosskopf, K., Wagner, P.. Knowledge management of farmers From data generation to knowledge sharing. Proceedings of the 5 th EFITA/WCCA Conference, Vila Real, Portugal, pp Taragola N., Gelb E.. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption in horticulture : A comparison to the EFITA baseline. In : Gelb E. & Offer A. (Eds.) (). ICT in agriculture : Perspectives of Technological Innovation. last accessed March 2007 Taragola, N., Van Lierde, D., Van Huylenbroeck, G Adoption of s, internet and accounting software at the glasshouse holdings of the Belgian farm accountancy data network. Proceedings of the 3 rd EFITA Conference, Montpellier, pp Taragola, N., Van Lierde, D., Van Huylenbroeck, G Task allocation and human resource management at glasshouse holdings in Flanders. Acta Horticulturae, ISHS, 655, pp Van Lierde, D., Taragola, N Structuur van de Belgische tuinbouwbedrijven (Structure of Belgian horticultural holdings). C.L.E.-Studie A90, Centrum voor Landbouweconomie, Brussel Warren, M Farmers and the internet. Proceedings EFITA 2003 Conference, Debrecen, Hungary