Farming families in the Midlands are adapting well to the Information Age with the help of a new training course introduced by Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority.
Teagasc offices in Laois, Offaly and Westmeath, in conjunction with the local VECs, are offering a two-tier course in the application of computer technology and software to farming businesses.
The courses, set up last autumn, suffered somewhat due to the foot-and-mouth crisis, but Teagasc expects to see a big demand for the new courses beginning at the end of this month.
The basic course of 20 hours, run over eight weeks, helps farmers to get used to using computers and is aimed at those who have just bought, or are in the process of buying, a PC for use in their home and business.
Basic word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail and the Internet are all included in the introductory course. There's also a demonstration of software applications for the farming business.
The advanced course focuses more on "the management side of things", according to Mr Finbar Heneghan, training officer with Teagasc in Portlaoise. This includes using farm-management packages and advanced spreadsheets.
For information on the new courses, contact Teagasc at 0502-21326 (Portlaoise), 04440721 (Mullingar) or 050621405 (Tullamore).