Smart Farming: Farm Apps

Mobile phone apps can help farmers with decision making, planning and farm management to improve productivity and increase efficiency. The following apps are some of the most useful farm apps available for download.

Soil Fertility Apps

• Farm Eye Soil Mate  allows the user to trace every soil test by GPS to the field where it was sampled.

• The Fertiliser P and K calculator provides guidelines for Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) application. 

Grassland Management Apps

• Field Margin allows farmers to map fields and record observations. Animal locations and movements can be logged to make monitoring livestock easier.

• Pasture Base Ireland (PBI) allows farmers to manage grass production and utilisation. It provides daily updates on grass growth across the country and tools to help match nitrogen supply with grass demand. 

Other Farm Management Apps

• Grass2Milk allows users to see whether dairy cows are being adequately fed to reach daily milk and body condition score targets and allows for the planning of daily feed allocations.

• AgriSnap enables farmers to submit geotagged photos to the Department of Agriculture to validate CAP payments and reduce the need for on-farm inspections. The app will be rolled out for the Straw Incorporation Measure scheme and the ACRES scheme this year.

• Herdwatch allows farmers to register calves, record dates, feed purchases, weights and animal movements. Flockwatch has been developed for sheep farms. The app is fully approved by DAFM, Bord Bia and ICBF.

• AgriNet HerdApp   allows farmers to register calves, record weights, request herd movement permits, improve herd fertility, record remedies and is fully approved by Bord Bia, DAFM and ICBF.

• Agrii Seed Rate Calculator is a useful app for calculating seeding rates.

• Mart Eye, LSL Livestock Live   and MartBids  are apps which can live stream marts and allow farmers to trade animals online. 

• Met Éireann Mobile App uses your GPS position to provide a 7-day detailed forecast for your exact location.

For more information on agri technology and other farm management apps download the Smart Farming Agri Technology guidance note.

Smart Farming is a voluntary resource efficiency programme, run by the Irish Farmers’ Association in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency. For more information on the Smart Farming programme visit www.smartfarming.ie.