‘Unearthing farmers' information seeking contexts and challenges in digital, local and industry environments’

•Farmers' information seeking contexts are individual, personalised, and situated within experiential practices.•Farmers must personalise information content and processes to produce relevant meanings and progress learning.•Differences exist between online, local, and industry environments and farmers' individual information needs.•Facilitating and empowering individual farmers' knowledge processes will help contribute to on-farm outcomes.

The information seeking contexts of Australian grain and cotton growers were explored as they undertook self-directed learning to make farming system changes. This investigation provided insights into information seeking and what constitutes ‘information’ that supported learning. Growers' information seeking contexts were individual, personalised, situated within experiential practices, bounded by locales, and facilitated by social practices. Farmers are agents who must personalise both information content and processes to produce relevant meanings and to progress their own learning agendas and pathways. Information seeking in online, local, and industry environments highlighted differences between available content and farmers' individual information needs. Information and communications systems that facilitate and empower individual farmer knowledge processes and onfarm outcomes are a necessary strategy of agricultural development.