ABSTRACT
Ranchers needs for marketing information have changed dramatically since the early 1970s, Increasing price variability, rapid inflation, higher interest rates, and closer ties to world supply-and-demand conditions for agricultural commodities have resulted in increased needs for short, intermediate, and long-run marketing information. Ranchers base marketing decisions on information from both internal and external sources. Accounting records, herd performance records, and budgets are examples of internal information used. The rapid development of electronic technology presents an exceptional opportunity for the Cooperative Extension Service to assume an even greater role in the delivery of timely market information. The problem of delivering timely market information in the western US is compounded by the vast geographical dispersion of producers. The state of Wyoming piloted a basic electronic market information system on the AGNET computer network during 1978-1979. The important of operating a microcomputer in an intelligent mode with AGNET arises from the tremendous potential savings in telephone costs.
