He hails from a cattle farm in north Queensland and like so many, 20-year old Matthew Eckford has felt the impact of the digital divide. Determined to change that, he's launched a rural Web site aimed at enticing farmers to use the Web as a productive business tool.
A one-stop-shop of Web-based services to the rural sector - www.ruralindustryconnect.com - was launched today by information technology integrator Data#3.
Eckford is the brains behind the project.
"My family and I experienced many difficulties common to farmers in regional and rural Australia," Eckford told ZDNet.
"There were a lot of daily issues fed by geographical isolation and very controlled supply and sale chains that my family and I wanted to address."
The rural industry site will enable Australia's 145,000 farms to access a broader supply chain as well as special deals on supplies, according to Eckford.
The site also broadens markets beyond geographic boundaries and provides information on best practices, local news and weather without the need to plough through pages of useless Web information.
"There is so much on the Web that can be helpful to farmers in introducing world best practices and cutting the costs and complications of their supply chain. But like my family, many farmers don't have the time to spend searching the multitude of sites available or just don't know where to start," Eckford said.
"[The site] helps you to network nationally with other farmers on specific issues," he added. "It's like the farmer's best friend on the Web."
Last year saw a one third increase in the number of rural and regional users of the Internet, according to a Rural Internet Usage report by Red Sheriff.
Furthermore, the federal government's AU$150 million push to reduce connection costs in rural and regional Australia is expected to see an increase in the uptake of Internet services amongst farmers. The rural Web site will look to take advantage of this expansion by moving into the e-commerce arena in the future.
"We're excited to be a part of the Rural Industry Connect Web site and to be working on the concept of supplying Web-based business services to the rural sector," National Data#3 iBusiness services manager, Bill Murphy, said.
"The combination of Data#3's technical excellence with Matthew's in-depth knowledge of the issues involved has resulted in a very functional business tool for rural Australia."
The rural industry site will enable Australia's 145,000 farms to access a broader supply chain as well as special deals on supplies, according to Eckford.
The site also broadens markets beyond geographic boundaries and provides information on best practices, local news and weather without the need to plough through pages of useless Web information.
"There is so much on the Web that can be helpful to farmers in introducing world best practices and cutting the costs and complications of their supply chain. But like my family, many farmers don't have the time to spend searching the multitude of sites available or just don't know where to start," Eckford said.
The site will look to expand into the e-commerce arena in the future, Eckford said.
"We're excited to be a part of the Rural Industry Connect Web site and to be working on the concept of supplying Web-based business services to the rural sector," National Data#3 iBusiness services manager, Bill Murphy, said.
"The combination of Data#3's technical excellence with Matthew's in-depth knowledge of the issues involved has resulted in a very functional business tool for rural Australia."
