Introduction
Do you know that agriculture occupies approximately 40% of the earth's surface?1 Billion people work in agriculture globally. The land under cultivation isn’t sufficient to produce as much as the current population needs. Moreover, constant usage of the piece of land and spraying additives cause damage to the land. And in some cases, the land even becomes barren.
Also, irrigation of crops constitutes 70% of global water use. If farmers do not use this limited resource, soon, there will be a time when most of them will become unemployed.
These challenges that a farmer faces can be resolved by using agriculture apps. The app can help farmers know which crops require more water and which areas need more attention by inspecting them and using modern technologies.
Why do over 570 Million farmers not use agriculture apps? Some are unaware or hesitant to use them. Some are doubtful or don’t know-how. Undoubtedly, some might be willing but they don’t know which one to use.
Whatever the case is, here is a guide to help farmers like you on What agriculture apps are, their different types, and how they benefit farmers.
What are agriculture apps?
Agriculture apps aim to aid farmers in their agriculture activities. They help farmers perform the following activities:
- Agriculture apps help cultivate, characterize, or modify soil.
- It can make producing, growing, improving, protecting, treating, or modifying crops or forest products easy.
- Also, they play a pivotal role in raising, harvesting, improving, protecting, treating, and modifying livestock, poultry, fish, or shellfish.
- Agriculture apps also help prepare, market, or treat products resulting from activities 1 to 3.
Types of agriculture apps
There are numerous types of agriculture apps. To help farmers make better decisions regarding which app to use, we have prepared a list telling the various types of agriculture apps.
1. Peer-to-Peer Information Sharing
One can make use of apps that are designed for sharing information among peers. This type of agriculture app helps farmers communicate with their fellows and share information regarding soil conditions. When local farmers communicate with one another daily and spread important information, they see themselves forming a community.
Working in communities has its own advantages since farmers get their hands on all the latest updates and developments in agriculture.
2. Online Lending For Farmers
Another type of agriculture app is the one that helps farmers borrow money. The sole aim of such type is to provide financial assistance to farmers. Another thing that farmers can find in such types of apps is a marketplace for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and on-demand labor.
3. B2B Farming
B2B agriculture apps give farmers an auctioning platform. This auctioning platform offers them an opportunity where they get justified prices. This type of agriculture app also helps food procuring businesses. Food procuring businesses need to have a solid and vast network of subscribed farmers to the platform to be successful. This way, farmers get attractive prices, and procuring businesses save time by bidding and winning the auction.
4. Weather Forecasting Apps
Another type of agriculture app is the Weather forecasting app. These apps make use of government satellite data to forecast weather. Besides this, they also use publicly available history of geographic records. These records help predict the potential changes.
Using in-built tools like gyroscopes and barometers in mobile devices is also helpful. They collect the information needed to forecast the weather accurately.
5. GPS Tracking
The landscape is not naturally flat. However, this fact goes unnoticed by the naked eye. This inability to perceive the land accurately makes studying top-soil conditions tough. Also, when a crop's leaves grow beyond a certain extent, studying the top-soil conditions is not easy, even in that scenario.
Agriculture apps have GPS trackers to combat such limitations. These GPS trackers help farmers examine and target a specific part for leveling. Additionally, farmers also employ Geo-fencing that comes with agriculture apps. Geo-fencing lets farmers study a selected region of crops. After reviewing these regions, farmers can share key performance indicators to optimize yields.
Farmers can also use tech to plow furrows precisely.
6. Livestock Management Apps
Livestock farms can benefit from Livestock Management Apps. These apps help them register and process their work. Also, they receive suggestions regarding the scope of improvement at every stage of the operation.
It does not matter what your farm type is; they can be a breeding farm, a feedlots farm, dairies, or industrial meat processors. These apps help all such farms by digitizing their management chores.
How do Agriculture Apps help farmers?
- Soil fertility matters a lot in farming. To produce food and satiate everyone's hunger, farmers need to grow their crops on time and with utmost care. These modern agriculture apps help farmers make more food in time for the growing number of humans. Thus we can say agriculture apps help balance the ratio of growing humans and the food we need.
- Farmers are indeed a bit hesitant to adopt modern technologies to practice an old trade, farming. They prefer the old ways that they find easier and more convenient. But if farmers embrace agriculture apps with open arms, they can grow more crops than they currently do. They can manage more animals accurately. Farmers are no longer required to move from one farm to another. Thanks to the GPS tracking facility, all this is now agriculture apps' work.
- Another perk of having an app for farmers is the anytime contact with experts. Now farmers can contact experts via chat or video call. This facility leads to farmers getting instant solutions to their queries. This instant resolution of problems leaves farmers' productivity unaffected.
- Agriculture apps also help farmers track their farm animals. It is a common sight to see farm animals catching diseases. So is the fact that many times farmers detect such incidents much later. However, farmers can keep track of farm animals and identify the contracted diseases sooner than before with agriculture apps.
- The app can help farmers by telling them about weather forecasts. The beforehand knowledge of the weather that day lets farmers decide the line of work for the rest of the day. These forecasts also allow farmers to take preventive measures and save their crops and produce from climate change.
- Agriculture apps are a good place for farmers to sell their produce. In this way, buyers and suppliers have a clear view of a farmer's produce.
- Agriculture apps also send farmers notifications of what is happening at their farms. This feature is an easy way of knowing how things are going on at the farm without even being physically present there.
- Agriculture apps also have a calendar. The presence of the calendar ensures that farmers plan their tasks for the day and do not forget to do specific tasks.
- Agriculture apps open the gateway to an all-in-one marketplace for farmers to purchase farming tools. They can read about the tools in their native or preferred languages before buying them.
- Sensors and agriculture apps are perfect for detecting nutrient deficiencies among crops, pest infestation, etc. All the data is directly sent to dashboards from where farmers can look at the situations.
- Geographical Information Systems and agriculture apps help farmers learn soil management practices that enhance crop production.
A few techniques that lead to smart farming methods
Automation
Automation reduces human labor. It also leads to improved productivity. Automated equipment can be automated carts, task-specific robots/ machines, or automated manufacturing.
Hydroponics
It is a type of hydroculture; it lets farmers grow crops without soil. This method involves using mineral nutrient alternatives in a water solvent for producing crops.
3D- Printing Technology
It is believed that the world will interact with food via 3D printing technology. Supermarkets and restaurants have already started using 3D food printers. Moreover, it is estimated that the market for 3D-printed food will cross $425 million by 2025.
3d-printing technology allows food companies to assess the customization of their mass-produced, commoditized products.
Precision Farming
Precision farming is a term for the methods that enhance the control and accuracy of agriculture. This superhuman precision machine decides the exact therapy that crops and cattle need.
Farmers can even optimize the efficiencies of pesticides and fertilizers using precision farming. These precision farming methods employ the Internet of Things and optimize soil and water. Thus, reducing expenses and increasing output while lowering freshwater use.
Also, big data analytics to insurance stats on farming circumstances and returns reduces the perils for farmers testing fresh plants and farming techniques.
Agricultural Drones
Agriculture apps and drones help farmers assess crop health, irrigation, crop tracking, crop spraying, planting, soil, and field evaluation.
Drones can also gather multispectral, thermal, and visual images while flying.
This data gives farmers valuable insights into a broad spectrum of metrics. The data regarding crop health indexes, plant counting, yield prediction, plant height measurement, survey reports, etc., ensures that farmers make the right decisions.
Conclusion
Agriculture apps are the future of farming. An app can automate and eliminate various tasks. Hence, farmers can focus more on their crops rather than the conditions. Various types of agriculture apps present in the market make a difference in farming methods. However, there is scope for improvement. Developers need to comprehend farmers' needs to create apps to help them ease their work.
Don't go too far if you have an idea for the next big agricultural app. Contact AppsRhino today!
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