The rapid growth of the Internet is giving the world of agriculture new options for information and trading.

Agriculture is shifting to the World Wide Web, and people within the business are able to access markets, agricultural news and weather on their home computers.

“I think in five years from now, the Internet will be just another tool like the telephone,” said Bruce Babcock, professor of agricultural economics. “I think farmers will use it to buy and sell just like they do on the phone right now. There is a tremendous shift taking place. Farmers use the net to buy rather than just for information.”

Babcock said there are no actual numbers showing how many farmers are trading over the Internet, but he said it is estimated that about 50 percent of farm families have access to the Internet.

“Though the numbers of people actually doing it right now are small, it is growing fast,” Babcock said. “This is all new, so it is not really happening a lot yet, but I think that it will continue to grow.”

Thayne Cozart, former employee of the National Farmers Organization, is the director of commerce and marketing for AgriOne, a local agricultural Internet marketing company. He said the company links farmers and buyers.

“The Internet allows niche markets to survive better than they may have been able to before,” Cozart said. “Our plan is to link the producers with the buyers by using the Internet. Once we connect the farmer and the buyer, we let them work out the rest of the deal. By using the Web, we don’t have to have a big staff.”

AgriOne is run from home computers by its four partners, Cozart, J. Steve Halloran, John M. Dungan and Rick Johnson. When they started four years ago, AgriOne was structured similar to an online auction, rather then a producer/buyer connection.

“We had a lot of trouble keeping up the inventory,” Cozart said. “But putting the buyer and seller together, there are less legal obligations than in an auction.”

Data Transmissions Network, based in Omaha, Neb., has been a major source of comprehensive news, weather and market information through personal satellite stations since the mid-’80s. DTN is a resource for farmers and agricultural businesses, and now it is providing its customers the options of using the Internet.

“We still have customers that are very loyal to the satellites,” said Linda Grunberg, director of public relations for DTN. “We have not been losing customers to the Internet. We do offer Internet products and services that some may want to use, but rural connections can be slow, which may discourage some people.”

DTN started a new Web site called Ag1.com, which offers different services to their customers, including selling name-brand seed and fertilizer at cheaper rates.

“People’s attitudes toward the Internet are changing day by day,” Cozart said. “At 57, I’m not the computer technician, but I appreciate the Internet for its potential in marketing.”