“Finding Your Agricultural Advantage” is a collection of four programs—one to generate case studies, one to do “trial-and-error” solutions, one to display linear programming solutions, and one to maintain case study data files. The four programs can be used together or individually as instructor preferences dictate in teaching farm planning. A step-by-step method for teaching with the software is presented as an example of its use.

This paper describes a microcomputer software package, IO/EAM: An Input-Output Economic Assessment Model, which was developed at the University of Georgia through a joint extension-research effort. The package is a menudriven, user friendly program that is designed to be used by county extension agents, researchers, and other extension personnel to estimate the economic impact of changes in county economies. The program employs an input-output model that provides users with a locally based, easily updated source of economic intelligence. Use of input-output techniques allows users to estimate the impact of changes in county economies on an industry-by-industry basis and to account for the interdependencies among these industries in a county.

Computers are becoming an affordable and effective tool for assisting with classroom instruction. This paper describes experiences utilizing a hypermedia presentation system for a farm management course. Some advantages as well as drawbacks and issues associated with using microcomputer-controlled hypermedia in the classroom are presented. Hopefully, readers will find some assistance in planning the design and implementation of such techniques for their own classes.

This paper presents the capabilities and limitations of a microcomputer linear programming package. The solution algorithm is a version of the revised simplex. Rapid problem entry, user ease of operation, sensitivity analyses on objective function and right hand sides are advantages. A problem size of 150 activities and 64 constraints can be solved in present form. Due to problem size, limitations and lack of parametric and integer programming routines, this package is thought to have the most value in teaching applications and research problems in the smaller size categories.

In this study, two methods of entering and accessing dairy herd records are compared: the traditional mail-in Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) system and the Direct Access to Records by Telephone (DART) system, which provides more timely and convenient access to records. An evaluation of DART was carried out using mail survey responses from 117 DART users and telephone surveys of 40 randomly selected users. Results indicate that DART users are generally satisfied with the system and feel that it improves their herd management. Variations in use of the DART system by DART users are explained by herd, cost, and management variables. DART users and comparable non-DART, DHI users are compared with respect to gains in herd production efficiency. Results indicate that DART users made somewhat better gains in most efficiency measures but that the differences were generally not statistically significant.

The effects of computer technology on various aspects of mathematical printing are discussed. A brief account is given of the use of a microcomputer and commercial software in a publishing office environment.

A BASIC computer program designed to facilitate analysis of twin data is presented. The program estimates genetic parameters and tests their statistical significance based on the genetic and environmental hypothesis.