A company called PureSense — which helps growers solve their water-related problems by providing them with hardware, software and services — is going mobile with the Android app called Irrigation Manager. Using the application, growers can monitor their real-time field conditions and irrigation activity even while on the go. PureSense’s monitoring stations placed throughout growers’ fields send data through the internet every 15 minutes and the Android app shows that data to the user. In addition to live (actually 15-minute) updates, users can also access the data while out of network thanks to the “offline sync” capability.
I love the idea of bringing mobile technology to the agriculture. Nokia is already offering somewhat related services in emerging markets (mainly in India) through its Nokia Life Tools. At the moment, an Android app targets growers in developed countries but with continuous fall of smartphone prices even growers in emerging economies will be able to afford an Android-powered device. That said, PureSense also announced plans to release additional apps for various platforms in the coming months…