By STEVE BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

URBANA, Ill. — A few years ago, Rick Edwards needed some up-to-date information about crop insurance. He farms about 3,000 acres near the Franklin County town of Benton, Ill.

“I’ve used a number of different websites over the years, and I’m pretty sure I used farmdoc when I was looking around to update our crop insurance,” said Edwards, the owner of a “smart” phone and three different computers at home.
Edwards is the type of farmer folks at the University of Illinois are trying to keep happy by expanding the popular farmdoc.illinois.edu website family to include the new farmdocdaily.illinois.edu site.

“We created the new farmdocdaily site with an eye toward the technology people are increasingly using to access information and the desired format of that information,” said Scott Irwin, a UoI agricultural economist.

“Information needs to be easily accessible across a variety of platforms, such as desktops, laptops and mobile devices. It needs to be delivered in a condensed format that fits the needs of busy people with hectic schedules who experience more than a little information overload.”

Interactivity is part of the new website’s offering. Visitors can register as e-mail or RSS subscribers to receive regular updates on a variety of issues. “There will be daily posts on the site with links to newsletters, podcasts, summaries of research reports and announcements about new farmdoc tools and data updates,” Irwin said.

When told about the new site, Edwards logged onto his computer for a look. “This does look pretty good. It has a clean look to it,” he reported.
The farmer is a big fan of advances in technology. “I probably get about 20 updates per day on my Twitter account and with e-mail, primarily for current prices. I also use it to keep track of local elevators,” Edwards said.

One feature on the new site is that users will be able to upload comments and feedback, giving others the opportunity to use their information and experience, Irwin said. He noted the farmdoc.illinois.edu site is not changing.
“The goal remains the same: To provide crop and livestock producers in the U.S. Corn Belt with round-the-clock access to integrated information and expertise so they can better manage their farm businesses,” he said.
“But, while the goal has remained constant, the technology to meet that goal has undergone enormous changes during the last dozen years. Smart phones, iPads, blogs and social networks are now commonplace but were scarcely imagined when farmdoc was first developed.”

Irwin said the subject matter posts on the new site will focus on “Corn Belt farm economics” with an emphasis on management, marketing, finance, policy, law and taxation issues.

“This new site will allow the farmdoc team to respond much more quickly and flexibly to these issues as they arise, particularly for those who like to receive information via mobile devices,” he said.