The US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has announced the development of a forthcoming smartphone app that allows access to soil models for the location using GPS. Farmers can chose an optimum cultivation strategies based upon this model.

In much of the developing world, farmers may not have a lot of options for cultivation models (how and where to till soil, for example.  Nevertheless, it is not hard to see how apps can help farmers to select what to plant, when to plant it, when to fertilize it and how to manage pests.

Under static conditions traditional ecological knowledge and cultural practices may produce similar or perhaps better results.  In a changing world, that may not be good enough to ensure success.

One way to link traditional ecological knowledge with information and communications technology is through participatory processes, such as participatory GIS (see for example www.ppgis.net).  In general, it is important to remember how important participation is when thinking about ICT for natural resource management and for development at large.   ICT can empower people, but  it can also be used against people, when access to information is controlled.

It’s really important to develop apps around the needs of users.  USDA has done a great job of working with the agricultural community in the USA to develop tools that are relevant to their needs.  Unfortunately, there’s still a huge gap between the app development community and rural poor of the world.  It’s time we developed an app store for the poor.

Read more at  Agro/Environmental Data at Your Fingertips from USDA ARS.