Digital agricultural apps workshop will be Oct. 22 in Floresville

FLORESVILLE — The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will present a workshop on using digital agricultural apps from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct . 22 at the Church of Christ, 1204 3rd St., Floresville.

The cost is $25 with lunch provided. Two Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered for private, commercial and non-commercial applicators.

“The goal of this workshop is to teach farmers and ranchers to use their iPhones and iPads to make decisions to improve their bottom line — whether in the field, on the tractor or in the pickup,” said Jay Yates, an AgriLife Extension program specialist in risk management based in Lubbock and workshop presenter. “The hands-on part of the workshop will be conducted on Apple iPads, but Microsoft and Android tablets will also be demonstrated during the class.”

Yates and fellow instructor Jackie Smith, a Lubbock-based AgriLife Extension economist, will use a lab of 25 iPads to lead participants in hands-on sessions to better utilize some of the hundreds of agricultural apps currently available. Workshop activities will include making sure participants understand the basics of using an iPad and iPhone, with a majority of the time devoted to looking at and assessing the wide range of agricultural apps available.

Yates and Smith have been involved in a grant project to study the use of tablets and smartphones in agriculture and teach farmers and ranchers how to use the technology to become better decision makers.

“The workshop instructors have reviewed and/or used hundreds of apps in an effort to help farmers and ranchers more quickly get to the apps that will help them the most,” said Bryan Davis, AgriLife Extension agent for Wilson County. “They will discuss their favorite two or three ag apps in several different categories such as weather, record keeping, decision aids, livestock, agronomy, markets, precision agriculture, agricultural news and general utilities.

Davis said the mobile device boom is putting a camera, touch-screen, high-speed Internet and GPS technology in the hands of agricultural producers, and even in their tractors and pickups.

“These basic capabilities of tablets and smartphones have paved the way for the development of thousands of useful apps and we can expect the number of ag apps to increase in time,” he said.

Davis said attendees should RSVP by Oct. 21 by calling the AgriLife Extension office in Wilson County at 830-393-7357.

For more information on workshop content, call Yates or Smith at 806-746-6101.

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