FARMERS ARE DOING IT WITH APPS Changing the face of traditional agriculture

APPS SEEM TO BE STEADILY FINDING THEIR WAY into most aspects of farming. The technology is becoming less of a barrier, according to one company active in these developments. “If the farmer sees the benefits of the app in terms of monitoring and managing farming activities, he is generally very enthusiastic about using it,” says Marius van der Merwe of Stellenbosch-based Etse Electronics. Relying on a 20-year background in the military, space and agricultural environments, the company has developed two products that illustrate the progress that’s being made.

TRACKED Designed and developed as a simple tracking system, Farmtrack has begun moving towards a complete farm management solution. It is able to detect missed rows during spraying, track tractors and calculate productivity, among other things.

It consists of two parts:  A small device containing various sensors, such as an accurate GPS module, installed on a tractor.  An intelligent monitoring system that collects and analyses data, such as speed and position, in real-time.

Data can be sent to any mobile device with Internet access.

In a test case at a prominent local farm, it was found that, before implementing the tracking system, one in four drivers would miss approximately one row per week, 17 tractors were needed for spraying and large amounts of overtime were logged. After implementation, missed rows were cut to one a month, tractors were reduced to 15, overtime was drastically reduced and spraying time was slashed by 37 per cent. COLLARED The combating of livestock theft and predator attacks was the motivation behind Farmranger, a security collar used on sheep, goats, cattle and horses. Originally developed in 1999 and known as Celmax, the product was recently renamed Farmranger.

Essentially, a Gsm-enabled collar is fitted to one animal per herd, or more in the case of bigger herds. It monitors the behaviour of the animal and, in so doing, that of the entire herd. Behaviour flagged as abnormal sets off an alarm and pushes information containing GPS location information to the farmer’s mobile phone. Up to now, missed calls and text messages have been the default alert method, but now a mobile app compatible with both Android and IOS has been developed. Although partly aimed at minimising theft, the system – by showing the herd’s latest location – allows a farmer to check where in a camp the herd is currently grazing, or has settled for the night. It also shows a few key system health metrics (GSM signal strength, battery level). The addition of a GPS unit in the collar prompted the developers to provide a better interface that, besides broadening the system capabilities, also provides a simple way for users to manage multiple collars.

In the case of a collar alarm, the app generates an alert on the user’s mobile phone. When a user opens their app, they see a basic visual summary of their collars. They may then view a location map for a specific collar, along with health metrics or historic events.

At present the app is in its final stages of development, with production release scheduled for August and several trial groups providing positive feedback and suggestions on useful features. Functionality has been purposely kept basic, with the focus on reliability rather than bells and whistles. Data cost is expected to be a few MB a month, as the app has been designed specifically for low bandwidth and low data use. The location map is the element that requires the most bandwidth, but once that has been cached, GPRS data quality is fine.

To find out more, email info@etse.co.za or visit farmranger.co.za