Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

The internet and the information available on it provide a new source for competitive market monitoring of agrifood companies. Intelligent information agents that scan the internet for relevant information and aggregate it into an information service offer the possibility to automate the process of monitoring relevant online sources and capturing significant content for decision makers. The combination of information agents for sector-specific information search on the internet with filtering techniques for enterprise-focused information retrieval from the search results provides an efficient information system alternative for agrifood sectors with small and medium-sized enterprises. Ongoing research deals with the formulation of appropriate search directives for the agents and the differentiation of appropriate filter templates for information retrieval.