Georgia farmers will soon be able to receive agricultural information from the University of Georgia in a meeting format on their smart phones and other mobile devices. Through the Blackboard Collaborate app, growers will have the flexibility of receiving useful and timely information no matter where they are, even without leaving their fields.
“I worked with Ag Technologies for several years prior to becoming an Extension agent and I’ve seen where technology is utilized by the producers to make the farm run more efficiently,” said Turner County UGA Extension agent Josh Gravitt. “We want to be able to streamline [dissemination of] unbiased, research-based information that can be incorporated into the farms’ production practices.”
Farmers can download the app on their mobile device, enabling the grower to log on to a Collaborate session and listen to vital information provided by the county agent and/or UGA specialist. The app has a live response feature that allows the grower to interact with the agent and specialist via chat box or verbally through the speaker on their device. It also has the capability of showing information as text in the form of slides as well as audio to listen to the moderator, i.e. agent or specialist, covering the material.
Participants will receive an email with the login credentials from the moderator; that can be copied and pasted into the session login inside the app. The participant will then enter their name in and log in to the program.
“It is important to utilize the technology that we have for the greater benefit of our producers,” Gravitt said. “Providing farmers the opportunity to access information provided by the university through their smart devices is a way we can accomplish that.”
Farmers like Alan Whitehead, a peanut and cotton producer in Turner County, see the value in not having to leave the seat of their tractor. “Time is expensive,” Whitehead said. “Being able to get up-to-date information without leaving my farm is beneficial to me.”
Whitehead said every meeting he attends helps him produce better crops, and the information he receives from county agents and specialists allows him to learn more about the best management practices in agriculture.
“I try to go to every meeting that my schedule allows me to,” Whitehead said.
Gravitt sees that implementing this technology will help growers and build relationships in the agriculture industry. “We care about what farmers are doing and want to get information to them as quickly as possible,” he said.
Mobile sessions should begin at the end of April. There will be a couple of sessions a month to start with and, as growers become acclimated with the app, more sessions will be created.
“Farmers are going to want this. It will give them more details about lectures from specialist and agents,” said Scott Utley, UGA Extension’s Southwest District program development coordinator.
Utley and Gravitt aim to make the Collaborate app as user-friendly as possible.
“Right now our primary focus is setting this app up where it can be easily accessed on phones and smart devices, but this app has the potential to be accessed through guidance displays in tractor cabs in the future,” Gravitt said.
The app that needs to be downloaded to smart phones is called “Blackboard Collaborate Mobile.” This can be accessed through the App Store or Google Play.
