As much as we may not want to admit it, we rely on our smartphones for almost everything – depositing checks, getting alerts when someone enters our home and much more. There are many benefits to having a smartphone, especially as a farmer or someone involved in agriculture today.
Our phones provide a lot of value and opportunities to our personal and professional life. Particularly for agriculturalists, there are apps that can influence your day-to-day actions on the farm. We’ve asked a few of our farming friends for their favorites.
Fieldwork
• Farmlogs: Provides field information, alerts and recommendations to prevent yield loss and improve profitability across your business.
• Tank Mix Calculator: Track when fields were sprayed including tank size, total spray volume per acre and chosen pesticides.
• Climate FieldView: Uses real-time, historical crop and weather data to deliver on important agronomic decisions.
• AgMobile: Keeps you updated on markets, news and weather.
• John Deere apps: Ensure that you are getting the most out of your equipment, business and day.
• NAPA ProLink: Find out the prices of parts and order them directly through your phone.
• GrainTruckPlus: Identifies how long of wait at a cooperative or elevator. It works most efficiently when everyone involved in the hauling process is using it.
Employee management
• Google Calendar: Sync schedules and coordinate events to maintain effective communication.
• Google Translate: Helpful way for managers and employees to communicate.
Herd management
• Logmein: Access and edit files, data and applications from your desktop. Other apps that work similarly are Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive.
• Agsource DM: Store real-time herd health data that automatically syncs to your desktop and allows multiple users.
Smartphones have impacted our lives and allowed us to accomplish tasks efficiently to ensure we have time for all the other activities in our busy lives. It is important that you identify what apps work best with your farming philosophy. Take advantage of the value your smartphone can provide your family business. 
The Dairy Strong Bloggers series is brought to you on behalf of the Dairy Strong conference, Jan. 17-18, 2018, in Madison, Wisconsin. This event focuses on cutting-edge technology, cultural trends and the future of the dairy community. Learn more and register at the Dairy Strong website.
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Joanna Wavrunek
- Digital Communications Manager
- Dairy Business Association
PHOTO: Google Calendar is a favorite app among the Dairy Strong bloggers for employee management. Photo by Joanna Wavrunek.
