As Hoard's Dairyman dives deeper into the digital world, farms continue to head in that direction as well. As reported by the USDA, 70 percent of farms now have access to a computer and 68 percent own or lease one, both up 5 percent from 2011. Farms that use computers for farm business have grown to 40 percent in 2013.

Access to internet on U.S. farms rose 5 percentage points from 2011, to 67 percent. The most common form was DSL (digital subscriber line), used by 35 percent. Wireless was second, used by 24 percent of farms and up 4 percent from two years ago. Dialup use dropped from 12 percent in 2011 to just 5 percent this year.

Computer ownership and usage are correlated with farm size. For farms with sales and government payments of $250,000 or more, 84 percent have access to a computer, 83 percent own or lease one, 72 percent use a computer for farm business and 82 percent have internet access.

In contrast, on farms with sales and government payments between $10,000 and $99,999, 68 percent have computer access, 66 own or lease one, 45 percent use a computer for farm business and 65 percent have access to internet. Interestingly, dairy farms have lower computer and internet access than other types of farms.

Similar results were found in the most recent Hoard's Dairyman Continuing Market Study. Based on 976 respondents, 65.5 percent owned a computer for personal or farm use, and 73.8 had access to a high speed internet connection.