Collecting Farm-sourced Data on Pest and Disease Pressure

Contact: Michael Gifford Michael.Gifford@niab.com

Collecting data from farmers relating to crop diseases and pests is routine. What has yet to be effectively developed is a real-time system for farmers to report problems as they find them in the field. The barriers to doing this are the ease of use of any application and concerns around how the data will be used once reported. The benefits to the industry of accurate, timely reporting are significant. There is the potential for a significant reduction in crop losses, a reduction in the use of crop protection chemicals and a greater understanding of how crop diseases and pests develop and spread geographically and temporally. The challenge is to develop a mobile reporting app with an intuitive and rapid user interface. You will need to develop an understanding of what interest and incentive farmers have to report issues and the barriers that prevent this reporting.