Is there an agriculture app gap?
There are apps aplenty in agriculture. Apps to help you scout fields and keep records. Apps to make smarter crop health or animal wellness decisions. Apps that optimize machinery and precision equipment.
But Jaime Vos, AEM safety materials manager, is
on the hunt for something a bit different.
"When it comes to mobile tech on the farm, what about safety content?" he says. "Wouldn't an app that featured safety best practices for equipment operations be just as valuable?"
Vos points out that most farm equipment manufacturers provide apps, but the content largeluy deals with management, maintenance and operations. It's absolutely worth investigating if your equipment has online or mobile content, he says.
"And then there's the question about millennials," he adds. "Our industry needs to be marketing to and communicating with the millennials on their terms. It would seem fairly safe to say that the millennial farmer entering the ag industry would expect to access safety information - as all other information - on a mobile device."
Vos raises a few other questions. Would safety content delivered via a mobile device improve worker safety? Would technology help deliver safety content more efficiently in multiple languages? How is safety information delivered to contract farm employees or immigrant workers? Is the future of equipment manuals, training materials and other safety content in mobile delivery?
"Only time will tell," Vos concludes. "The only certainty is that technology will continue to advance, evolve and disrupt the way we access information, regardless of the industry."
Find the next great app to help your farming operation at
