Farmobile Works to Solve the “First Mile Problem”

Data collection is critical for every major industry, and agriculture is no exception. In this week’s CoffeeTalk, we sat down with data collection pioneers, Farmobile for a conversation around how the company is redefining data collection.

“When you take our ability to bring field level data and mix it with the AGI Suretrack system that can look at fertilizer data and bin storage monitoring, there’s a lot of synergies that came from that,” says Bradford Warner, marketing and sustainability executive for Farmobile.

With the recent advancements in sustainability and efficiency, farmers value the advantages that collecting data from the field has on their operational goals. However, the challenge isn’t collecting the data; it is “the first mile problem” or getting data out of the field and translated into a meaningful management plan.

Steve Cubbage, vice president of data services for Farmobile, says the focus of their data collection efforts are making data shareable and standardized across machinery types and retail formats, through their cloud-based system technology.

“Through a diagnostic puck device, the Farmobile cloud-based system is capable of capturing, processing, and sharing machine-generated data from any planter, combine, or sprayer,” he says. “There is typically a three or four second delay, but the nervous system streams yield data, fuel use, idle time and numerous machines in real time. From your phone or computer dashboard, you can see what’s happening in the field, and then the data is collected in an electronic field record.”

The real-time collection, tracking, managing, and sharing of data on a one platform system, The Farmobile DataSource exchange, is not only valuable for farmers and agronomists, but also allows data to be shared efficiently. The Farmobile team believes the electronic field records (EFR) accessibility is truly the distinguishing factor between Farmobile and competitors. Warner says, “If you’re a farmer, the EFR system gives you pulleys and levers to start working on practices that may impact your nutrient use efficiency, change practices that might impact your carbon sequestration or change practices that might help use water more efficiently.” Throughout the entire data process, however, a farmer can choose who gets permission to their individual data and where the data is being shared — leveling up trust within the process.

As the newest members of the AGI brand family, Farmobile adds another “link” in the SureTrack connected farm to deliver not only data quality, but traceability, time efficiency and analytics a farmer can use. And with the recent focus in carbon credits, Farmobile offers farmers the ability to use the data they collect to generate the data sets needed to capitalize on new markets.

“As the carbon market space and other sustainability spaces get introduced,”  Cubbage says, “As a grower, it’s important to be collecting field activity data, planting and tillage practice, and applications. The historical data set is going to be very important as value-added markets continue to appear.”

To learn more about Farmobile’s cloud-based data collection technology and their traceability and sustainability efforts, visit farmobile.com.

To see this CoffeeTalk in action, visit the AGI Community news page.