Adoption of ICT in Flemish horticulture

The use of computers and internet on horticultural holdings in Flanders was studied. According to the agricultural census 2006 57% of the horticultural holdings have a personal computer for business purposes, and 54 % of them have internet. There is a positive relation between the use of a PC for business purposes and the business size, there is a negative relation between the use of a PC and the age of the manager. In a survey of 208 horticultural holdings with a farm accountancy it appeared that 83% of this holdings used a PC for business purposes. The PC is most popular for crop registration, administrative work, accountancy, administration business and home banking. Internet is used on 78% of the holdings of the sample. In the inquiry a list of 22 internet applications was proposed to the managers. From the answers it appeared that these applications were not frequently used on the horticultural holdings. The most popular application was home banking, then came info on prices of horticultural products produced on the firm. It was also clear that e-commerce is not yet very popular at horticultural holdings, horticultural growers rarely use this application. The managers that did not use a PC for business purposes were asked which were the limiting factors for the use of a computer. The most important reasons for not using a PC were a lack of training in using a PC and the inability of the managers to use the PC. Asked for the consequences of not using ICT the managers in the inquiry answered that the most important consequence would be that these holdings would become out of business, the second consequence would be that there would be a loss of efficiency and competitiveness. One can conclude that the use of ICT in Flemish horticulture is not very popular, there is a lack of training and a lack of knowledge. On most of the holdings with a computer the use is rather intensive, but not all the possibilities of internet are used for the moment.