Scope of Farm Management Software in Agritech
Farm management includes procedures and activities carried out by farmers to manage the farm through advice from professional specialists in farm management. It is defined by Dillon 1980 as the process by which resources and situations are manipulated by the farm manager in trying, with less than complete information, to achieve his [or her] goals. Another definition of farm management by makeham and Malcolm, and Upton states that it is related to the theory of management per se and farm systems. It is a science of optimising the application of resources in the farm component of farm-household and achieving the optimal functioning of these systems to optimise the whole-farm system.
It involves description, construction, analysis and evaluation of farm management system. There are multiple objectives for agri tech startups on which farm management system analysis is based on. Farm management software work in four modes:
Routine operation and control activities:
- Day-to-day operation and management of an actual farm
- Cooperative farm-based production entity
- Cooperative farm-based marketing entity
Descriptive activities:
- Description of farm systems
- Description of farm-related problems
- Provide fundamental understanding before attempting the problem diagnosis
Diagnostic activities:
- Identification of problems
- Identification of weaknesses in farm-level systems
- Identification of potential opportunities
- Routine monitoring and management
Prescriptive activities:
- Overcoming problems and weaknesses
- Seizing uncovered opportunities in diagnosis analysis
Agri tech startups need to develop farm management solutions capable of analysing routine operations and activities. Farm management software is used to describe, diagnose, and prescribe advice for farmers based on the data provided to the software input. To provide precise suggestions on optimising operations, processes and resources in field activities, farm management software should handle big data and carry out different analyses on the data. The accuracy of farm management software is increasing with the evolution of technologies and updating algorithms.
The challenge for agri tech startups is to match the capabilities of hardware and software platforms and synchronise them to get desired results. Technologies will change, and faster algorithms will be developed, but the scope for farm management software in agri tech solutions will stick to the four modes we discussed above. It may include plant management, crop management, irrigation management, soil management, livestock management or other agri-related businesses management. Though the target parameters vary for different management requirements, these four modes will remain constant for any farm management solution. Thus, agri tech startups need to focus on improving the performance of these modes, which will enhance the management of farmers in their daily routine.
