Unearthing farmers' information seeking contexts and challenges in digital, local and industry environments

The information seeking contexts of Australian grain and cotton growers were explored as they undertook self-directed learning to make farming system changes. This investigation provided insights into information seeking and what constitutes ‘information’ that supported learning. Growers' information seeking contexts were individual, personalised, situated within experiential practices, bounded by locales, and facilitated by social practices. Farmers are agents who must personalise both information content and processes to produce relevant meanings and to progress their own learning agendas and pathways. Information seeking in online, local, and industry environments highlighted differences between available content and farmers' individual information needs. Information and communications systems that facilitate and empower individual farmer knowledge processes and onfarm outcomes are a necessary strategy of agricultural development