Farmable’s mobile farming app boosts tree crop yields and reduces waste

The global population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, and 70 per cent more food must be produced to feed everyone. To meet this need, farmers must adopt more precision agriculture methods that use digitalisation to increase production.

Agriculture, however, remains one of the least digitalised industries, and many farmers still rely on inefficient paper notes and basic software to manage their operations.

Farmable enables tree crop growers to track, monitor and record operations via a mobile app. Data is gathered in the field and manually entered into the app, giving orchard managers a real-time overview of activities. With this data, they can make sound decisions to enhance productivity and efficiency. The app also generates a database of records to simplify reporting to authorities and marketing organisations.

Designed by growers for growers, the mobile app is free and easy to use, making it accessible to all farmers regardless of their financial position or technology skills. Because the app is cloud based, managers can access critical data in the field as well as at the office.

The Farmable app tracks orchard inputs down to the row level, giving growers more precise control of water, energy, fertiliser and pesticides. The result is higher crop yields, which can help to meet the growing population’s food needs.

By enhancing efficiency, Farmable curbs environmental waste as well. Growers use less water and energy, as well as less fertiliser and pesticides, reducing potentially harmful runoff.

In addition, human resources and logistics are optimised, eliminating unnecessary use of energy-consuming vehicles and equipment. All these savings can result in higher farm profits.

The global market for fruits and vegetables is increasing dramatically. In 2015, consumers spent USD 2.8 trillion on fruits and vegetables, and consumption is expected to increase to USD 5.9 trillion by 2030. In addition, there are 3 million fruit and vegetable farms in Farmable’s target markets of Australia, New Zealand, North America and Western Europe.

Launched in January 2020, the Farmable 2.0 mobile app has quickly gained traction with users worldwide. Farms across Europe, Australia and New Zealand are already using the app, with new users each day. The company plans to release a more advanced, paid orchard management system in 2021 to complement the free mobile app.