Advances in electronic engineering, biotechnology and information systems are revolutionizing agriculture.

They are the new tools powering the region's farms, agriculture leaders say.

"These technologies are increasingly becoming more important in agriculture," said Bruce Gjovig, director of the Center for Innovation at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

"Farmers are cautious to implement new technologies, but once they embrace it, there's rapid adoption," Gjovig said.

"And they are embracing it, especially your larger farmers," he added.

About half of the John Deere combines that roll off the assembly line come equipped with some global positioning satellite components, said Kevin Cowles, a program manager at Phoenix International in Fargo. The subsidiary of the John Deere Co., manufactures electronic components for John Deere and other companies.

From the cabs of tractors and combines, farmers are using computers to receive satellite signals that help them map out fields.

They are using on-board computers and GPS systems to pinpoint different production characteristics throughout their fields. With the information, farmers can tailor their fertilizer, seed and herbicide applications.

And they're storing crop data on computer chips, then downloading the information on home computers to analyze their efficiency.

"Basically the main thing that using a GPS system allows you to do is to map and monitor fields in micro-detail rather than macro," Cowles said. "It's all about not farming more acres, but getting higher utilization and higher yield out of the acres you've got."

Through advances in electronic engineering, manufacturers also have greatly improved fuel consumption, emissions controls and power train controls, Cowles said.

On the Internet, farmers are increasingly turning to online resources to educate themselves, find markets for their commodities and save money on supplies.

"This access to data is helping farmers become much more effective and much more productive," said Jerry Nagel, president of Northern Great Plains Inc. "It is transforming agriculture in a very positive way."

Northern Great Plains, based on the University of Minnesota's Crookston campus, is a nonprofit program that studies ways to improve rural economies.

"When we started work in 1985 there were hardly any resources online for agriculture and there were very few farmers on the Internet," Nagel said. "As the resources have increased so has farmers' usage of the Internet.

"They go hand in hand," he said.

Since 1997, Internet use among farmers in North Dakota, Minnesota and the rest of the United States has more than doubled, a survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows.

North Dakota farmers with Internet access jumped from 11 percent in 1997 to 32 percent in 1999. Minnesota farmers with Internet access increased from 11 percent to 27 percent in the same period, according to the study.

And agriculture business-to-business sales on the Internet will reach about $124 billion in 2004, 12 percent of all U.S. agriculture sales, financial analysts at Goldman and Sachs Co. estimate. In 1999, agriculture business on the Internet accounted for $34 billion, or 4 percent, of all agriculture sales.

Biotechnology

Many of the departments at North Dakota State University have become involved in biotechnology research, said Cole Gustafson, associate dean of research.

Through biotechnology, scientists can alter the genes of animals and plants. For example, scientists have developed corn that is resistant to disease and soybeans that are more tolerant of pesticides.

In one project, researchers at NDSU are trying to alter the genetic makeup of sugar beets to increase the plant's sugar content. And economists at the university are trying to determine whether North Dakota farmers have access to a viable market for genetically modified crops, Gustafson said.

While North Dakota State has expanded its work into biotechnology, some countries have questioned its safety and want nothing to do with genetically modified foods.

Biotechnology may offer future benefits and North Dakota State is involved in the research as a plan for the future, Gustafson said.

Genetically modified crops take eight to 10 years to develop, he said. "I think people clearly understand that they want to have the technology developed if and when the market accepts it."