The results are presented of two surveys of actual and potential use of new communication technologies (with special reference to those based on the internet) in UK farming: one in the South West of England, characterised by family farms and pastoral enterprises, and the other in the Eastern counties, associated more with large farms and arable farming. Conclusions are drawn concerning conditions for increased exploitation of the Internet in agriculture, and recommendations made for overcoming some barriers. The paper also reports on the establishment of a trial within a farmers' production/marketing group, comparing experiences of a group of internet users with a similar-sized group of non-users, and monitoring the pattern of use of the technology within the user-group.