Cows send text messages to farmers telling them when they’re going to calve. And, crops can now send messages to a tillage farmer’s smart phone telling them when to spray. The technology comes from Lemken’s new weather station.

The weather station allows farmers to monitor temperature, rainfall and humidity in their fields and crops. All results are then sent to an app on the user’s smart phone. The simple weather station stands upright in a crop and is pictured above.

Optimum spray timing

Spraying at the optimum time can save farms a considerable amount of money and this app is intended to do that very task. Through the collection of weather data, the new station can also help to forecast disease pressure in crops.

What does it measure?
  • Soil temperature at 5cm and 25cm;
  • Air temperature in and above the crop;
  • Humidity in the crop and in the environment around the crop.

The tool can play a role in integrated pest management (IPM). It can help to reduce chemical use and to prevent the build up of disease resistance through the application of effective spray timings and the identification of high disease pressure.

Smart phone app

The weather station can also send details to an app on the user’s phone and results will be shown as in the picture below.

Aside from telling farmers what conditions in a particular field are like for spraying, the app also estimates disease pressure within a crop.

AppsforAgri

Lemken has entered into partnership with a relatively new company – AppsforAgri. Lemken intends to make its machinery more efficient through the use of integrated solutions between machinery, sensors and apps.

Iljan Schouten, business unit manager with Lemken Crop Care, explained: “We intend to provide farmers and contractors not only with outstanding implements, but also with better support for their decision-making processes.

They clearly gain added value if we are able to assist them actively in determining the optimal time for deploying their field sprayers, for example.