Adding Open Source Tools to your Farming Tool Belt

👩‍🌾 🌱🛠🖥📊🌱👨‍🌾

Paul Weidner, farmOS

Open Source Definition

Source Code
Derived Works
Free Redistribution
Licenses

Free Software Definition

The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

(Open Source Basics - Intel)

So how do you make money giving something away?

- farmier.com/post/2019/funding-farmOS

I do open source work, how do I find funding?

- A handy guide to financial support for open source.

Motivations

Data Privacy

Value in Data

Will [farm data] go to a few private interests and controlling shareholders? Or will it benefit the people growing the food, and those who are nourished by that food, as well as the environment that food depends on to grow?

- https://jgaehring.com/blog/farm-data-as-value-added

Moving Buckets of Data - NO!

Community + Collaboration in Crowdsourcing

farmOS is a web-based application for farm management, planning, and record keeping.

Collect Anything

Activities and observations
Inputs and harvests
Maps and location
Weather/sensor data
Any scale

Record Types

Find and Manage Records

Search records by type
Link records together
Categorize and flag
Filter and sort
Export

From Anywhere

Desktop
Laptop
Tablet
Phone

farmOS Field Kit

Apple + Android + Web App
Works Offline!
Task Assignment
Field Modules

You Own the Data

Private by default
Fine-grained permissions
Share how you want

Hosting/Installing

Installed on a web server
Accessible via web browser
Docs: farmos.org/hosting/installing
Free trial: farmier.com/signup

Demo

Dashboard + Areas

Farm Dashboard
Mapping Areas
Area Hierarchy
KML Import (include?)
Auto Generate Beds

Farm Assets

("Things")

Plantings
Animals
Equipment
Compost
Groups

(more via add-ons)

Logs

(represent "events")

Activities
Observations
Movements
Inputs
Harvests
Task Assignment
Categorization

Logs - advanced

(represent "events")

Movements and Location
Soil Tests
Water tests
Sales and purchases
Inventory Tracking
(more via add-ons)

Quick Forms

Planting
Weather
Egg
Weight
etc

( + more )

Reports

Weight Report
Quantity Report

( + more )

Plans

Higher-level organization
Gives context and purpose
Prescribed workflows
Faster and easier planning
Forestry Plan
Crop Planning (soon)

( + more )

Sensors

Receive data from sensors
Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc
Email and text message alerts
Add-on modules can extend for specific sensors
Next up: graphing and data analysis!

People and Roles

Multiple user logins
Roles and permissions:
- Farm Manager (full access)
- Farm Worker (limited access)
- Farm Viewer (read-only)

What's next....

In Development...

farmOS 2.0
farmOS Field Kit
Community Aggregator

farmOS Field Kit

Apple + Android + Web App
Works Offline!
Task Assignment
Field Modules

farmOS Aggregator

Communicate with multiple farmOS servers
Crowdsource Data
Many use cases:
- farmOS Community Map
- Certifying Agencies
- Marketplace
- Research

Aggregator

farmOS.org

Documentation
Links
- Downloads
- Source code
- Issue queues
Frequently asked questions
Farms using farmOS
How to contribute

Open

Technology

Ecosystem for

Agricultural

Management

At scale, OpenTEAM can improve soil management practices for farmers around the globe and mitigate the effects of climate change.

- Sally Rockey, FFAR Executive Director

Background

$10 million public-private collaboration
Implementation - Fall 2019
Field Testing - 2020
Provide quantitative feedback on millions of acres of farmland by 2024

Over half of our emissions come from agriculture, so in order to hit our target we know we need to work with the farms who provide our ingredients and help them reduce their emissions and sequester more carbon. OpenTEAM will enable us to do this, and track farms’ progress so we can be confident we’re hitting our goals.

- Britt Lundgren, director of organic and sustainable agriculture at Stonyfield Organic.

Use Cases

Denver OpenTEAM Gathering

September 2019

Use Case: Field Data Collection

Use Case: Decision Support Tools

Cover Crop Decision Tool

Use Case: Agroecosystem Model

COMET-Farm is a whole farm and ranch carbon and greenhouse gas accounting system.

- cometfarm.nrel.colostate.edu

An online greenhouse gas, water and biodiversity calculator for farmers.

- coolfarmtool.org

OpTIS – An automated system to map tillage, residue cover, winter cover, and soil health practices using remote sensing data.

- ctic.org/OpTIS

Use Case: Marketplace

We are building a transparent and secure platform that will allow anyone in the world to pay to remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

- www.nori.com

We enable decentralised, collective action towards healthier ecosystems, and help constantly improve our understanding of our natural world, and our role as part of it.

- regen.network