New app helps with recordkeeping and nutrient management

The University of Vermont (UVM) has developed a new mobile app that could streamline record keeping and nutrient management for farmers.

The web-based mobile app will store data on soil, crops, and nutrients. The EPA, along with most states, require farmers to submit nutrient management plans. This app could simplify that submission process, and help farmers keep more detailed records. To download the app, go to the goCrop website.

Some of the app's other benefits include: reducing nutrient runoff, saving time, money, and resources, and increasing efficiency. The goCrop app critically analyzes farms' nutrient management plans. It calculates how much material should be applied to meet the nutrient needs of the crop and avoid the environmental issues of having too many nutrients in the fields. Farmers can plan and track the nutrients each field needs and when to apply them. This ultimately saves money by not using or over-applying chemicals or fertilizer.

The UVM team began work on the app after realizing how tedious the current notetaking and data aggregation process was for farmers, mostly involving handwritten notes which are then transferred into spreadsheet format. The UVM team was able to finish the goCrop app using a $394,000 grant via the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

For more information visit the USDA page or the goCrop website.

Photo: Couresty of goCrop.