How it works - six easy steps
1. Review requirements
We meet with you and review your current data, how you capture it, how it’s managed, how you analyse and report it. We discuss your pain points, the problems you want to fix, and your project objectives. We prepare a project scope and requirements for your sign-off. We use an agile approach in the project and consult with clients at each stage, adopting feedback.
2. Farm mapping
We map your farm and create each pond, frame, line etc. as a discrete feature. This can be done from existing farm maps, imagery or our app. This will become the splash page of your field app. The map can be invaluable for staff navigation, data integrity and data visualisation.
3. Create database and form
We digitise your field data forms in the Konect builder. This is fast, powerful and technically accessible. Konect creates the field app automatically. A data record is attached to the spatial feature - for example, a line will have repeated growth monitoring records.
4. Roll out app
Within a day or so, your app can be deployed for testing. Changes are easily made. Then we roll it out to all users, with simple training.
5. Build report in Power BI
Using recent data and your existing report format, we build a dynamic dashboard in Power BI. This gives you great power to visualise your data and drill down for insights.
6. Set up data service and web report
Field data is fed by API to Azure and an SQL database. Other data sources such as IoT devices can be brought in. The Power BI report is re-linked, where you can login on the web. Your data system is ready to roll. This is your MVP, and the more you use it, the more potential you will see for it. You are ready to grow.
How we began
A new client for agKonect – a seaweed farm in the Philippines
In 2018, Dr Hugh Butler of Marine Algae and BioSea Health asked agKonect to provide a digital system for his seaweed farm in the Philippines. As landlubbers working mostly in horticulture and sugarcane, this surprised us, but … why ever not?
– If we can provide biosecurity systems for bananas, sugarcane, mangoes and avocadoes
– if we can help a pineapple company manage and forecast their production from 20 farms and a kiwifruit company manage 600 farms
– if we can help a sugarcane mill maintain their transport system to move 2 million tonnes of cane every year without critical incident
– if we can provide data systems for aviation, through airKonect
then we can certainly help a seaweed farm to digitise its data. It’s just another field service use case!
This system proved a great success and Hugh has become a great supporter of agKonect. His ‘aquanauts’ use their agKonect app to record their operations, including pod and line maintenance, planting, monitoring and harvest. The data is saved to the cloud and in near real time, Hugh is able to view a dynamic report and manage the workflow on his desktop or mobile, even when he’s 5000 km away in Australia.
Since then, we have built systems for Dr Pia Winberg‘s PhycoHealth (seaweed in tanks) and Cherax Park/Fusion Farming (redclaw in ponds). We are currently setting up a system for a large mussel farmer.
agKonect decided to place our aquaculture projects in their own domain, aquaKonect, so we can continue to build our focus on this unique and vital part of our planetary future.
