Vodafone business has started a pilot of MyFarmWeb across five farms in Europe. The interactive, cloud-based platform powers a mobile app that enables farmers to visualise data collected from agricultural IoT sensors across their farmland on a mobile app or desktop application. The service is already used by 7,200 farmers in the United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Vinod Kumar, Vodafone Business CEO commented: “MyFarmWeb is a great example of how digital technologies, and the access to data they provide, can help businesses become more efficient and greener.
“Together, we can accelerate the European Union’s efforts to make the agricultural sector more resilient and inclusive through the use of digital tools, whilst ensuring that sustainability doesn’t come at the expense of profitability.”
What does MyFarmWeb do?
MyFarmWeb consists of 11 tools that help farmers leverage their IoT data with the intent of improving productivity, optimizing farming practices and reducing greenhouse gases Vodafone claims. Where MyFarmWeb becomes useful to farms is the features that then take this data and turn them into insights, enabling faster decision making.
Tools on MyFarmWeb
- Comparing Tool: Compare multiple maps in a single view and do in-depth analysis.
- Layer Graph: Visualise and distinguish additional map data
- Weather: See weather station data, or open-source weather data and national dam levels information where available
- Measuring Tool: Accurately calculate the distance on the ground between points of interest.
- Area Tool: Accurately calculate an area of interest, such as a field
- Time Line Control: Analyses data using time series analysis
- Drill Down Tool: Compare and analyse technical data on points of interest across multiple layers at the same time.
- Smart Layers Tool: Capture, store and view all records of crops that were planted on a farm
- Division Tool: Sub-divide existing farm blocks/fields to indicate areas that have more than one crop or cultivar planted on it.
- GPS Tool: Provides GPS coordinates for points of interest on your farm.
- Infrastructure Tool: Capture and illustrate on MyFarmWeb where certain infrastructure is present on your farm
It is unclear if the Dam data extends to reservoir data in Europe, the dam data is not available in South Africa.
Features on MyFarmWeb
- MySoilClassification: View soil form maps with crop potential differences, plant-available water capacity, effective root depth, possible anaerobic conditions, management practice recommendations, representative soil moisture probe positions, and variable seeding and fertilisation maps.
- ITESTLeaf: View and compare leaf tissue analysis with historical data.
- ITESTSoil: View the nutritional status and topography of your soil, including corrective and variable liming and fertilisation maps.
- PPM: View and analyse the historical incidence of pests and notice trends using Precision Pest Monitoring.
- MySmartLayer: Displays and summarises data captured records and information of crops planted on your farm.
- MyYield: View and analyse Combine/harvester maps. Areas producing bad and good yields are identified and the underlying causes of bad areas are determined.
- Picklogger: Accessed in MyYield, Picklogger is a harvesting tool that records the location of every pick when perennial crops are harvested.
- IFLY: View satellite or drone images or utilise the latest Airbus VERDE offering biophysical parameters calibrated by crop type, making it a superior solution to traditional NDVI.
- MyIrrigation: Upload and view irrigation maps and view live soil moisture probes information.
- ITESTPetoile: View Petiole analysis results with the ability to compare historical data.
- ITESTWater: View water sample analysis results displayed in a point report.
- MyProfitability: Using yield maps and production costs, see which farm areas were profitable and which were not.
- MyAssets: Track your vehicle assets through IoT technology.
- MyFlight: View as applied aerial application maps along with all other data, to evaluate application effectiveness.
- MyUploads: Safe storage for any files crucial to your farm. View, recall or download them anytime.
- IConsult: View reports, files, or photos uploaded by your consultant.
- MyGrowth: View fruit growth measurements to ensure the yields are on track with industry and target market norms and standards.
- MyInfrastructure: Capture all a farm’s infrastructure and view it as an interactive map.
In Europe
There are five pilot farms in Europe now using the solution. They are :
- Dairygold in Ireland
- Llusar and Grima, both based in Spain
- Laporta in Italy
- Agrar-Betriebsgemeinschaft Leine-Solling GbR in Germany
In Ireland, Sean O’Sullivan of Elm Hill Farm (Dairygold), commented: “The introduction of MyFarmWeb has saved us a lot of time and made the running of the farm far more economical. In the past, I haven’t been a big user of technology, but I am always looking for tools to make the farm more productive.
“MyFarmWeb installed an IoT-enabled weather station, which gives me the benefit of knowing the correct time to spray and fertilize the fields without the need to drive to the farm to establish the weather conditions. The data that MyFarmWeb provides has the potential to completely transform how we work here at Elm Hill Farm.”
The use of technology on farmland has lagged many industries due to the expense of deploying IoT sensors and the limited number of applications available. The use of technology is more widespread with many vehicles and equipment used on farms leveraging sensors, smart technology and in-cab screens to direct farmers and deliver information about yields etc.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
There are different challenges for farmers in Europe and it will be interesting to see how Vodafone evolves its offering. There are also no features that specifically apply to livestock yet, it will be interesting to see what features MyFarmWeb adds over the coming months and when it will deploy the solution to its first UK farm.
Vodafone business continues to work with partners across the value chain. These include equipment manufacturers, suppliers, and research institutes to introduce new applications and technologies for the farming community.
