Farmers tap into mobile phone apps
An increasing number of mobile phone apps developed especially for agriculture are giving tech-savvy farmers a wealth of information at their fingertips.
Mobile phone apps or “applications” are small software programs that allow users to access useful tools, information and entertainment on their handset. Farmers Weekly will be compiling a list of some of the most useful ones on the market, so we want to know which ones you’re already using, or which ones you’d love to see.
Generic apps like weather forecasting and unit converters are widely available to download, but a number of agricultural suppliers have jumped on the bandwagon and developed their own.
Dalmark Grain has created a simple app that can be downloaded onto all web-enabled phones to enable growers to keep abreast of movements in cereal, oil and currency prices, as they happen. Growers can also get spraying advice using Syngenta Crop Protection’s mobile website – with access to local weather forecasts and product guides.
DuPont developed its own “TankMix Calculator” app to enable customers to calculate the exact amount of product or water needed to treat a specific field area, the amount of product needed to apply to a specific tank size, or the amount of product needed to a specific volume to volume ratio.
The scope for further farming-related apps is huge. In the US, an insurance company for farmers has launched a service called iClaim which allows customers to immediately file an insurance claim from an iPhone or iPad. Pictures can be taken at the scene of an accident and emailed immediately for faster claims processing.
