Appy day for farmers
A NEW app developed by three cousins will help farmers deal with one of the most tedious parts of their jobs.
Software developer Lee Bonato and Burdekin cane farmers Casey and Boz Kovacich are behind the Farm Assistant app.
Currently it is only available on Android devices but a version is being developed for iPhones.
Mr Bonato said the idea came about when his cousins told him about the reporting and information they had to give the State Government.
“The guys were lamenting at how time- consuming it can be … being farmers they work long hours and often they’re home after dark,” he said.
“So when you get home after a long day and you’ve had a shower, had dinner, fed the kids and the animals, the last thing you want to be doing is sitting there filling out paperwork.”
That’s where the experiences combined. Mr Bonato has a background in IT and Casey and Boz knew what farmers would want.
“These guys were heavily involved in the design of it because it’s for them, so it had to be something they could and want to use,” Mr Bonato said.
The idea of the app is it has a simple interface where fertiliser use and other important details can be entered.
This information can then be emailed and passed on to the regulators.
There are similar applications out there but Mr Bonato said this was different.
“We had a design philosophy going into it, the idea was to keep it simple, it has to make your life easier not harder,” he said.
“Where these other apps failed was, number one, they didn’t do what the farmers needed them to and number two, they were needlessly complicated.”
The cousins said this was particularly important as many farmers were older and were not as comfortable with smartphones.
There has been some interest in Farm Assistant since it became available. It is not limited to cane farmers and can be used by any producers. It has been downloaded by a South African farmer.
Mr Bonato said there had been good feedback from farmers in the region. The app is $ 10 on Google Play.