There are several Apps that companies and public institutions have developed with the unique goal of increasing product exposure, reaching broad and progressive audiences, and improving effectiveness in communicating news, educational materials, and support tools. Without doubt, Extension is changing and the audience is evolving. During the winter meetings we’ve had this year, we have seen more and more people using smartphones and tablets for checking email, news, weather, grain price information, and more.
In the last month, the K-State Sorghum and Soybean Schools offered a concurrent session titled “New Technologies: Use of Mobile Apps.” From the audience attending these schools, almost 100 percent said they used Apps on a daily basis, primarily to check on the weather or grain prices .
During the past year, I have been investigating and evaluating the wide variety of available Apps for agricultural purposes. Most of the Apps presented in this article are free to download. Before paying for any App, please check online reviews or consult with any specialist working with that App in order to understand the benefits in using it and how it can assist you in your daily farming operations. As a general rule, an App needs to be “easy to use” and “intuitive.” Most Apps do not come with a user guide or a manual. Take all these points into consideration before downloading and using Apps.
I’ve created a subjective classification with the goal of dividing Apps by their different uses and purposes.
Ag-Apps classifications:
- ID Apps: For identification purposes (weeds, insects, diseases, and nutrients)
- CALC Apps: For calculating purposes (nutrient removal calculations, tank mixes, volume to spray, etc.)
- ECON Apps: For checking grain prices, market evolutions, fertilizer price trends, news and finances
- SCOUT Apps: For scouting purposes or for geo-positioning (soil sampling, recording notes, soil types, etc.)
- GUIDE Apps: For diagnosing crop production issues in the field, primarily related to field guides (crop management: insect, disease, weed, and more)
- GAG Apps: GAG (General Ag-Apps) for general use, weather-related, meetings, magazines, and more
1) ID Apps
The Apps under this category are primarily utilized for identification purposes. This category can be sub-divided into different topics:
A) Weeds
B) Insects
C) Diseases
D) Nutrients
1A) Weeds ID
These Apps can help identify a weed, or search for weeds by name, region, or appearance. The ID Weeds (University of Missouri) and/or Weedalert.com are both very good for weed ID purposes.
Figure 1. Top 9 Weeds ID Apps and the ID Weeds App from the University of Missouri.
1B) Insects ID
The Aphid Scout is an App from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that helps visualize aphid infestations at the leaf level (0, 10, 25, 50, and 100%). The Pestbook App from DuPont offers a variety of pictures for different pests and beneficials that can assist in ID purposes.
Figure 2. Top 9 Insects ID Apps, Aphid Scout App from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and DuPont Pestbook App.
1C) Diseases ID
This category highlights Apps specific for diseases either in a single crop, such as the Soy Diseases App (South Dakota State University),or for multiple crops, such as the Crop Diseases App (GRDC, Grains Research & Development Corporation), which presents information for wheat, barley, oat, triticale, and canola, among several other crops. The IPM toolkit (University of Wisconsin) is broader than disease ID alone. It also includes a list of Extension activities such as meetings, publications, videos, and news (highly recommended!).
Figure 3. Top 9 Disease ID Apps and Soy Disease App from South Dakota State University.
1D) Nutrient ID
This section highlights Apps for nutrient deficiency ID purposes. Within this category, the Crop Nutrient Deficiency Photo Gallery App from the International Plant Nutrition Institute is worth downloading for $5. The K Gallery App (International Potash Institute) presents only potassium deficiency pictures for multiple crops.
Figure 4. Top 4 Nutrients ID Apps and Crop Nutrient Deficiency Photo Gallery App from IPNI.
2) CALC Apps
The Apps under this category are primarily utilized as support tools and for calculation purposes. This category is sub-divided into:
A) General Calculators
B) Crop Production
2A) General Calculators
These Apps include a way to calculate the optimum fertilizer N rate, silage moisture cost adjuster, maturity date predictor based on tassel date, grain yield estimator, tank mix calculator, and crop nutrient removal, among others. The TankMix App (Dupont) and the fertilizer removal App (Ag-PhD) can assist farmers in making quick decisions in the field. Still, always make sure to check with your crop consultants, agents, and Extension specialists because this information is variable depending on the soil types, crop yields, and environments. The Manure Valuator (University of Arkansas) is an App that provides assistance in valuing the nutrient content of manure.
Figure 5. Top 14 Calculators ID Apps and Nutrient Removal and TankMix Apps.
2B) Crop Production
This section highlights Apps related to crop production issues and planting management. The Extreme Beans (University of Minnesota) and the Corn Advisor (University of Arkansas) Apps are both very useful for making decisions for soybean and corn, respectively. Extreme Beans is a useful App for calculating soybean seeding rates and for understanding the effect of diverse management practices on maximizing soybean yields. The Corn Advisor App has different features such as calculating lime and nutrient rates, identifying nutrient deficiencies, diseases, and insects, and providing information about control practices.
Figure 6. Top 9 Crop Production Apps, Extreme Beans (University of Minnesota), and Crop Advisor (University of Arkansas) Apps.
3) ECON Apps
This section includes Apps related to agricultural news, weather, and grain prices. There are several Apps that offer all the information related to weather, markets, news, and grain prices in one App. Among some of my favorites are DTN/PF (Progressive Farmer), AgWeb and CVA Coop. To search for the best cash grain prices, Growers Edge and the Cash Grain Bids (AgWeb) are very helpful. Using these, farmers can identify the closest location and the best price for selling grain.
Figure 7. Top 13 Economics (News-Finance) Apps, DTN/FP, and Cash Grain Bids Price Finder Apps.
4) SCOUT Apps
This section pinpoints Apps that can assist farmers in preparing maps, taking soil samples (geo-referencing the sampling points), calculating areas, measuring distances, and getting information about the soil type, among several other features. The ConnectedFarm Scout App is useful for preparing maps, scouting, and geo-positioning points within your field. The ArcGIS App is very useful for calculating areas and distances within your field or for determining the final size for a plot area for research purposes.
Figure 8. Top 9 Scout Apps, ConnectedFarm Scout, ArcGis, and SoilWeb Apps.
5) GUIDE Apps
This section presents Apps that compile information from several production topics such as soil fertility, weeds, insects, diseases, crop management, calculators, and more. The Corn and Soybean Field Guide (Purdue University) is a very useful App. The fplants App portrays diverse forage species and provides a guide to forage ID. The HortPlants (University of Arkansas) App provides an extensive photographic catalogue covering many plants of the Mid-South, such as trees, vines, ground covers, shrubs, and ornamental grasses, among others.
Figure 9. Top 8 Guide Apps, Purdue Field Guide, Ag-PhD Field Guide, and fplants “Guide to Forage plants ID” Apps.
6) GAG Apps
This section depicts Apps that present overall information about agriculture and related sciences (such as weather information). The Crop & Soils App presents the Crop & Soil Magazine in an electronic format. For last week’s Commodity Classic meeting in San Antonio, the organizers developed an App presenting all the information related to the meeting schedule, hotel, amenities, and more. The Kansas Soybean Commission has an App that provides information about the Commission. The Machinery Sizing App from K-State (only available for Android) was developed for quickly estimating tractor horsepower to pull various implements.
Figure 10. Top 9 General Ag Apps and Machinery Sizing K-State App.
Summary
In summary, there are several different agriculture-related Apps with diverse applications and unique features that can assist key stakeholders in the farming decision making process. Brian Arnall, Precision Nutrient Management Specialist at Oklahoma State University has prepared a comprehensive summary of Ag-Apps. For more information, check: http://npk.okstate.edu/presentations
I will provide an updated list of Ag-Apps within the coming months in the Agronomy eUpdate. Stay tuned!
Ignacio A. Ciampitti, Crop Production and Cropping Systems Specialist
Ciampitti@ksu.edu
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