Ag professionals of all ages continue to reap the rewards of new mobile apps. And perhaps no segment of farming is benefiting more from the increased productivity — and profitability — from using mobile technology than precision agriculture. From collecting data and recording crop scouting activities, to tracking machine performance and controlling drones, mobile apps have become a key component in precision farming work.
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AkerScout
AkerScout is a directed crop scouting application to help identify and prioritize crop damage to address problem areas needing immediate attention. The application works on standalone mode, but various important features are enabled when you load high-resolution aerial vegetation imagery. Base features include scout task coordination and assignment of multiple fields and scouts; support for various crop types; a comprehensive database for identification of pests, diseases, and plant limiting stress; GPS-enabled crop scouting with identification and capture of disease, pests, weather, plant population, damage severity, photos, and notes; and field mapping and comprehensive reporting. Android, iPad, iPhone
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Ceres Imaging
Farmers use Ceres Imaging to help understand water stress, plant nutrient uniformity, pest emergence, and other issues in their fields. Ceres Imaging provides aerial spectral imagery throughout the growing season to observe patterns and trends over time, view your entire farm, or zoom into individual rows and plants. Your imagery can be downloaded to your device for guaranteed viewing while in the field. View your location in the field and navigate to areas of concern with your GPS overlaid on the imagery map. iPad, iPhone
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Pocket Drone Control
Pocket Drone Control from Agrible is new software technology that makes drones easy to use and effective. It works with Crop Copter unmanned aerial vehicles to let users quickly see how much damage a field has following a weather event or pest stress. The iOS app works with Agrible’s flagship software, Morning Farm Report, which is a suite of predictive analytics tools that give growers field-level insights about everything from when they can take equipment into the fields to how much nitrogen each field needs. Pocket Drone Control uses Morning Farm Report to seamlessly plan a flight and launch the drone with just a few swipes on an iPhone or iPad. It can cover an 80-acre field in less than 15 minutes, all on one battery with life to spare. After the drone takes photos, you can quickly classify damage as hail, disease, drift, flooding, etc., on your mobile device, even if you don’t have a data connection. Then, the information uploads to Morning Farm Report where you can access and share it at any time. iPad, iPhone
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Taranis
The Taranis app is an excellent tool for data collection and integrated pest management in the field. The app detects potentially problematic hot spots and prioritizes them for further investigation. Scouts then use a specialized app that directs them to these locations. The scout fills a crop-specific report including phenologic growth stages, crop height, and geo-tagged photos. The agronomist or farm manager can view and analyze the reports and photos, evaluating crop status straight from the Taranis dashboard, and decide on a plan of action. The analysis makes it easy to see infestation levels, trends, action thresholds, and even decide on more localized sprays. The same app can be used to input data from rain gauges and traps. Make the scout work easier and visible to management in real time. The bottom line is cost reduction and increased productivity. Web-based
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WineFlight Precision Ag
This app from UAV-IQ lets users turn their drone-acquired precision agriculture data actionable to mitigate loss, optimize resources, and improve yields. Use the WineFlight mobile app to tag and prioritize locations for inspection or immediate action; draw zones for variable rate cultivation and selective harvesting; compare imagery from the same flight to gain further insight into current conditions; compare imagery from different time periods to assess temporal trends and effectiveness of past actions; orient yourself and receive GPS guidance while working in the field; and record automatically indexed field observations and photos. The app also features real-time messaging when working within data connectivity; seamless integration of messages and data collected while working outside of data connectivity; and effective search and archive features. iPad
Unfortunately, with the number of precision farming apps available in leading app stores growing exponentially, it’s become next to impossible to successfully wade through the latest options that are helping make work more efficient for precision ag professionals. That’s why I decided to do the sorting for you. I’ve researched and evaluated the newest precision ag apps available for Androids, iPads, iPhones, and more.
Scan the slideshow above for a few precision ag-minded apps to consider and download. And click here to check out even more apps for precision farming.
0155 Apps to Help Farmers Work Smarter in the Field
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Hopkins is Senior Online Editor for the CropLife, Cotton and International Media Groups at Meister Media Worldwide. See all author stories here.
April 16, 2018 
Unfortunately, with the number of precision farming apps available in leading app stores growing exponentially, it’s become next to impossible to successfully wade through the latest options that are helping make work more efficient for precision ag professionals. That’s why I decided to do the sorting for you. I’ve researched and evaluated the newest precision ag apps available for Androids, iPads, iPhones, and more.
