I work at a local CSA and the farmer has an idea for utilizing the iphone for farming. I'll post part of his recent blog below. Let me know if you or someone you know of would be interested in developing something that would work for them!!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Week 18
Sunday brought the organic inspector to the farm to review our practices, receipts for seed and feed and records about planting schedules, rotations and harvest yields. Organic farming requires scrupulous record keeping. For the last few years, we have based most of this record keeping on our computer. This past season, we started to use an on-line database system and Google Earth to keep records. When John is not in the field in the winter, he's at the computer "virtual farming" as he color-codes the mapping program with the planting schedule. We've been dreaming about how much easier this would be with the institution of i-phones for both of us and our interns so data could be entered in the field and communication could be easier between all of us during the days in the field. We could enter data from the field about what we are planting and harvesting rather than scribbling it on scraps of paper and transcribing them into the computer later in the day. Of course, Apple hasn't returned my phone call or email about sponsoring farm-based technology development so for now, we'll just keep writing things on our old fashioned "Palm Pilots", our hands. (Our idea of a palm pilot is ink directly on the hand...)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Week 18
Sunday brought the organic inspector to the farm to review our practices, receipts for seed and feed and records about planting schedules, rotations and harvest yields. Organic farming requires scrupulous record keeping. For the last few years, we have based most of this record keeping on our computer. This past season, we started to use an on-line database system and Google Earth to keep records. When John is not in the field in the winter, he's at the computer "virtual farming" as he color-codes the mapping program with the planting schedule. We've been dreaming about how much easier this would be with the institution of i-phones for both of us and our interns so data could be entered in the field and communication could be easier between all of us during the days in the field. We could enter data from the field about what we are planting and harvesting rather than scribbling it on scraps of paper and transcribing them into the computer later in the day. Of course, Apple hasn't returned my phone call or email about sponsoring farm-based technology development so for now, we'll just keep writing things on our old fashioned "Palm Pilots", our hands. (Our idea of a palm pilot is ink directly on the hand...)