Small farming operations are benefiting from mobile technologies geared toward addressing challenges they face, from production to financial services to market access.
As The Christian Science Monitor reports, there has been a proliferation of technology solutions geared toward addressing challenges faced by small farmers over the past seven years, including mobile-enabled agriculture technologies, which shows promise in developing countries with increasing mobile phone adoption.
One such technology is FarmerLink, which combines satellite data and farm data collected by mobile-equipped field agents to predict and detect threats from climate-sensitive pests and disease in the Phillipines. Farmers receive warnings about the threats over their mobile phones, allowing for quick response to situations that if unchecked, would cause devastating losses.
And mobile technology is helping American farmers, as well. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released two mobile applications aimed at disseminating agricultural information to farmers last year.