Senwes Scenario December 2016 / January 2017 | Page 53

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F UT UR E F O CUS ••

I recall those long ago years of ‘travelling blind’ with no
mobile phone - and still don’t take for granted that I
now have help at my fingertips.

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of R/$ and JSE and world shares
news and information and offers
a chat forum of about 2 000 users
as well as physical grain marketing
services.
AN OVERVIEW OF TEN APPS
Weather - There are many
weather apps, but the one
used most commonly in my
regions is: Yr.no. It is a free
access website for weather
forecasting and meteorological information. It offers forecasts for over 9 million sites
across the globe. I have just
opened my app to see instant
information such as temperature and wind speed together
with a weekly projection. The
information supplied on this
site has changed the way we
make decisions about when
to spread lime or when to
send the crop sprayer to the
fields.
2. Pannar Sprout: Pannar has
produced a useful free app
which makes it possible for
you to easily access a wide
range of information at the
touch of a button. Not only
does it provide detailed information of their products and
new cultivars, it also offers
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tools such as: Estimated yield
calculators; plant population
recommendations; hybrid
comparisons; replant calculator; unit conversion tool and
a currency converter. There
is also a page with information on crop diseases with
photographs for farmers to
reference against.
Measure your land: There
are a number of free apps to
help you accurately measure
your fields like ‘Measure Your
Land’ and ‘Land Calculator’.
One of the most popular
measuring apps is: GPS
Fields Area Measure which
enables you to measure area,
distance and perimeter using
GPS-tracking as you walk or
drive around the perimeter of
your fields. Farmers use it to
measure field areas, calculate
fencing requirements as well
as for other management
information such as paying
contractors.
Teejet SpraySelect is another
useful app which helps you
to choose the proper spray
nozzle. All you need to do
is enter your speed, spacing
and target rate, select your
droplet size category and a

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list of tip recommendations is
provided.
Messicks Equipment app
features equipment part diagrams for New Holland, Case
IH, Krone and others. It is
useful to help identify part
numbers so you can specify
what you are looking for.
Do you know that you can
free yourself of annoying
telemarketing callers by
downloading an app such
as Truecaller or CallApp?
Caller ID & Block by
CallApp show you who is
calling (even if they are not in
your contact list). It will identify telemarketing and spam
calls and will enable you to
block and blacklist unwanted
callers. I have been using
Truecaller for some time now
and have found it gives me
great pleasure to identify the
telemarketers and instantly
block them!
Senwes is a leader on the local
scene and has three different
apps for Senwes Graan,
Scenario Magazine, this
magazine online, and Nation
in Conversation, which is a
local platform where various
thought leaders discuss agricultural issues and includes a
live event streaming feature.
NWK Online is another
useful app for farmers in that
region.
A number of local magazines
are available online nowadays
including Farmers Weekly,
Landbouweekblad SA,
Veeplaas and AgriSales.
YouTube has become a
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SENWES Scenario • DEC 2016/JAN 2017

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