The Rural Voice, 1983-03, Page 6[flFUTEFS
Farmers will be making important decisions on purchasing, financing and
marketing using the latest tool in agriculture—computers. The Rural Voice looks
at information systems—Grassroots, Westex and Universitel.
COMPUTERS:
Grassroots in Manitoba
by Gregor Campbell
Some farmers in western Canada are
the first people in North America to use
a new technology that will change all of
our lives.
Its a two-way mass communication
technology, that involves computers,
cailed videotex. The Canadian version
of this technology, now recognized as
the world's best, is called Telidon. And
the first North American commercial
application of both the technology and
Canadian version is called Grassroots.
Grassroots is run by a company called
Infomart, formed in 1975 and owned by
two Canadian media giants, Southam
Incorporated and Torstar Corporation.
Grassroots began in May 1981. There
are approximately 450 to 500 people on
the system now, about 300 of these
paying customers, mostly in Manitoba
but some in Saskatchewan. These pay-
ing customers are farmers, not any par-
ticular kind, but most with big opera-
tions. They pay $50 per month to the
Manitoba telephone system, plus five
cents per minute for access to the
Grassroots/Infomart/Telidon /videotex
computer.
What they get, and what we all will
be getting, is more than meets the eye.
At first glance, this videotex does not
appear "to have the potential to change
profoundly the way business is conduc-
ted and the way people interact", as the
authors of a recent major report for the
federal industry. trade and commerce
department suggest. No! It looks more
like a little television set run by a
relatively big pocket calculator, with a
few more buttons to push than is
usually the case. Turn it on. What kind
of TV is this? It doesn't talk (not
yet -they're working on that) and the
words and special color graphics you
PG. 6 fHE RURAL VOICE, MARCH 1983
are seeing are closer to cartoons in
appearance than photographs (Telidon
hasn't been able to make sharp re-
productions of photographs - but
they're working on that too!)
It's uncluttered and has up-to-date
information, all kinds of it. Information
is what grassroots is all about. But
information like you've never had, in
one place before. Not from television,
not from newspapers, not from news-
letters and not from radio. Nuts and
bolts information now, updated when it
happens, information with an added
touch. If you don't understand the
information you've been given. or per-
haps need more information on a given
topic, you punch buttons to ask your
videotex for an answer and you get it.
"Grassroots gives you information in
much the same way you'd expect to get
it from your local newspaper. With one
exception. It delivers now. When you
need it. And you don't need to sift
through the rest of the paper to find the
page you need. It's a lot like a two-way
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4."4.11.;
[Photo, courtesy Grassroots]
conversation. It's interactive...farming is
the ultimate gamble. A gamble on the
markets. A gamble on the future... If
you don't know what's happening, you
can't react, and if you, can't react, you
can't survive."
True enough. Advertising hype? But
consider the volume of information and
its sources the western Canadian farmer
has at his or her fingertips by punching
the appropriate buttons with Grass-
roots:
Crop Markets
Winnipeg Commodity Exchange, Chi-
cago Board of Trade, Cargill Grain,
Manitoba Pool Elevators, Pioneer Grain
Co., United Grain Growers, Parrish and
Heinbecker, Northern Sales, Statistics
Canada Crop and Livestock Survey,
Farm Market Network, CanAm Commo-
dities Corp., Broadwater Farm Services
Ltd., FarmScene, ConCom Commodi-
ties, Manitoba Food Market Review,
Manitoba Department of Agriculture,
Canola Council of Canada, Lethbridge
Research Station, Hedging and Use of
the Commodity Futures Market (educa-
tional).
Weather
Meteorological Environment Planning
(24-hour forecasts for five Manitoba
crop regions, updated three times daily.
Also, three-day and 25 -day prairie fore-
casts, current conditions and 25 -day
forecast for North America and weather
for USSR Steppes. Special section on
corn heat units; soil moisture and
growing degree days provided by Ag
Canada), Broadcast News (wire service
weather, continuously updated), Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration (world crisis weather, cala-
mities that may impact major crop
areas world-wide).
Livestock Markets
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Mani-
toba Cattle Producers, Manitoba Hog
Producers Marketing Board, Agriculture
Canada, Veterinary Infectious Disease
Organization, Animal Industry Branch,
Feedlot Profitability Analyzer (interac-
tive program that determines profitabi-