Marly van Oers, Account Manager of AppsforAgri in an Interview with LECTURA Press

FarmXtend, consisting of 3 components, makes agricultural life easier and better with its intelligent cultivation technology. The weather is crucial for agriculture. How can the WeatherXact Plus help the farmer?

All our FarmXtend products are specially developed to optimise crop performance. By sharing infield data and decision supportive information, farmers can make better-informed decisions on a daily basis. The WeatherXact Plus delivers multi-levelled and ultra-local data about the crop- and field climate. For the farmer, it is nice to see what the temperature and humidity differences between the crop and his fields are, but it is even better to know if there is any risk at crop damage. With alerts he gets notified if temperatures are getting too high or too low, so he can take preventive action, to prevent heat stress or frost damage. 

Advertisement

Crops can also get damaged by pests and diseases. With the DiseaseXpert, farmers can easily see if the infection pressure for one or more diseases in the crop is high, and when needed he can take preventive and/or curative actions against threating pathogens. When treatment is needed the SprayXpert is of great value. The farmer can check the FarmXtend app, to see when it is the best moment to apply the plant protection product(s). When spraying at the best moment, the product will protect the crop optimally.

Both Xpert modules use historical, current and future weather circumstances, measured by the WeatherXact Plus combined with a field-specific weather forecast. All these data are used by multiple algorithms to deliver the farmer accurate data via the FarmXtend app. Which makes it easier for the farmer to plan his daily activities like sowing, spraying, fertilizing and harvesting.

What data can I read in the App from the „Agricultural Soil Sensor“?

The Agricultural Soil Sensor you mention is called the SoilXact Plus. Especially developed to measure the moisture content and temperature of the soil. Based on resistance and different algorithms the soil moisture content can be calculated for more than ten common soil types. The SoilXact Plus is available in 30 and 60cm length, which makes it possible to use it in variable crops. After an easy installation, the SoilXact will start sending hourly data to the FarmXtend app, where the soil moisture content, filling capacity and soil temperature are shown. 

In the FarmXtend app, the farmer has a quick overview of the current and past moisture content of his field. Graphs easily show the fluctuations in the soil moisture content of the past day, week, month and even year. With these data available 24/7 he can decide if it is needed to start irrigating, or if it is possible to wait for a few more days. With several devices placed in different fields, he has a good overview of where to start irrigating first. Knowing where and when to start irrigating comforts the farmer as he has a better overview of the status of his fields.

Due to climate change, the intensity of the rainfall has greatly increased. How accurate is the data I get from the RainXact Plus?

The RainXact Plus is equipped with a self-emptying tipping bucket. This tipping bucket empties itself in one quick moment that takes less than 300 ms. This makes the RainXact Plus a very accurate precipitation sensor with an accuracy of ±5% and a resolution of 0.5mm. Because this product is also wireless (as all FarmXtend products) farmers have a real-time overview of the amount of precipitation fallen on his fields, wherever he is. The FarmXtend app visualizes the last 50 precipitation measurements with date and time. In the historical tab, all precipitation data can be viewed until one year back.

 Can I use all 3 components with one app, or do I need one app for each function?           

 All FarmXtend products can be used in one app. The dashboard gives an overview of the most important measurements per device. The number of devices per dashboard and user is unlimited. Since a few weeks, the new feature of sharing devices was introduced in the app. This enables farmers to share devices with their neighbours. This makes it possible to check differences between fields in for example temperature and precipitation, but also to have more inside information in disease pressure in crops in the direct area.

Do you like this interview? Do you also have something to share? Contact us at press@lectura.de and we will help you to spread the story.