Thanks to a new cyber tool, farmers can do away with their old scratch pads and better manage crops and irrigation systems.
The goCrop Web and mobile app, developed by Heather Darby, an agronomist from the University of Vermont Extension, was awarded about $400,000 from the USDA this spring to expand the app for use around the Northeast and California, where soil conditions are different, and add functions for mapping, grazing and pest management, according to an Associated Press article in The Californian.
It is one app in a long line of new technology that help farmers stay on top of their game, not just in the field but all around the farm, from managing manure and fertilizer applications, monitoring irrigation systems, coordinating harvests and checking the weather and real-time agricultural markets.
Dairy farmers using the app in Vermont are receiving crop reports for each field, according to the article. They can print and send their records to the state instead of going through a long list of handwritten notes.
And, the article says, it could help prevent farmers from wasting fertilizer. Farmers also can use the app, which costs around $250, while cutting corn or grass in the field. FG
—Summarized by FG staff from cited source
