Vodafone Business is piloting a new service – MyFarmWeb – that could accelerate the digitisation of farming across Europe by providing farmers with an easy-to-use mobile app linked to agricultural IoT sensors.  Five European pilot farms in Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain are trialling the platform, which is already being used by 7,200 farmers in the United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The MyFarmWeb cloud-based platform allows farmers to store, visualise and view information gathered via agricultural Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and other data sources in the field. The platform collects farm data to support decision making for better soil and crop health, effective water use, and precision fertilizer and pesticide application. This helps improve farm productivity and optimises farming practices and as a result can reduce greenhouse gases.

The five pilot farms in Europe will provide the platform with valuable region-specific data points to calibrate the data within MyFarmWeb to local farming practices and regional regulations. The five selected farms are: Dairygold in Ireland, Llusar and Grima both based in Spain, Laporta in Italy and Agrar-Betriebsgemeinschaft Leine-Solling GbR in Germany.

Vinod Kumar, Vodafone Business CEO said: “MyFarmWeb is a great example of how digital technologies, and the access to data they provide, can help businesses become more efficient and greener. Together, we can accelerate the European Union’s efforts to make the agricultural sector more resilient and inclusive through the use of digital tools, whilst ensuring that sustainability doesn’t come at the expense of profitability.”

Moises Infante, Technical Manager at SAT Marigomez farm (a supplier of Llusar), in Spain, said: “MyFarmWeb will enable our farm to be fit for the future and has proven to be a real gamechanger already. Using the platform, we can collate data from multiple sources, like soil quality, nutrient concentrations, and yield, and turn it into commercially workable information, ensuring we make faster and more informed decisions, maximising efficiency while also reducing waste and environmental impact. This is just the start for our farm and in the future MyFarmWeb will allow us to use more productive and sustainable farming practices, which is becoming increasingly important to comply with the changing legislation.”

Sean O’Sullivan of Elm Hill Farm (Dairygold), in Ireland said: “The introduction of MyFarmWeb has saved us a lot of time and made the running of the farm far more economical. In the past, I haven’t been a big user of technology, but I am always looking for tools to make the farm more productive. MyFarmWeb installed an IoT-enabled weather station, which gives me the benefit of knowing the correct time to spray and fertilize the fields without the need to drive to the farm to establish the weather conditions. The data that MyFarmWeb provides has the potential to completely transform how we work here at Elm Hill Farm.”

Digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in helping farmers to become more sustainable. With the launch of MyFarmWeb Vodafone is dedicated to bringing new technologies to farmers and collaborating with the farming community to meet targets set out in the EU Farm to Fork strategy, which makes up part of the Green Deal.

As part of its efforts to encourage sustainable and eco-friendly farming practices, Vodafone Business is working with partners across the value chain, including equipment manufacturers, suppliers, and research institutes to introduce new applications and technologies.