Never Lose a Field Note Again
Fruit grower Dagobert Widemann provides insights into how the Farmable app supports him in his day-to-day orchard activities.
As the new fruit growing season comes to an end in Europe, farmers are getting ready for their winter activities. Since January, we have talked to dozens of growers who scouted their fields for dead trees, completed pruning and root cutting activities, or have documented their crop treatments and recorded their harvest.
One of these growers is Dagobert Widemann, a pome and stone fruit grower from Lake Constance in Germany. In 2020, Dagobert mapped his apple, apricot and peach fields in the Farmable app for the first time. Since then, he has been using the app on his phone and tablet to:
He has easily linked information and data to his fields from the previous seasons. This year, he could quickly view notes in one place and, thereby, be reminded of challenges from last season and compare them to pests discovered during the new season. Historical data on previously used herbicides and fungicides are also just a click away and offer insight as to how to go about this season’s challenges.
Dagobert says,“When you are out in the field, you see many issues that need fixing. Before, I would put them down in my notebook or on a piece of paper, to make sure I did something about it by the end of the day. Of course, it works, but it is not ideal. It is almost impossible for me to easily get an overview of all my notes related to one field if I don’t want to spend hours in the office again.”
Looking through his app, he can find different notes with photos and GPS-locations attached, with information on:
“As the season started, it was great to be able to look back at the pruning techniques we applied before the winter in 2020 and observe how different fields started growing,” says Dagobert.
This season, Dagobert recorded notes along the growth stages in his field to keep track of bud development, leaf development, branch development, inflorescence emergence and flowering. This information is not only useful to track for his own use, but also essential to share with his advisor, who appreciates having precise locations and photos recorded of these stages. Next year, they will be able to compare the timing of phenological stages in the blocks to better inform the planning of future crop treatments.
Capturing field observations in the app allowed Dagobert Widemann to leverage both historical data to improve the outcomes this season and to easily share notes from his day-to-day work on the farm. He makes sure everything is stored in one place.
We are happy to support Dagobert in his journey to empower his orchards through the power of data. User input is the cornerstone to building a world-class product for tree crop growers from Germany to Australia, and we invite you to join us on this journey. Download the app today and share your ideas with us at support@farmable.tech.