Agrolly helps small-scale farmers navigate climate changes
As climate changes, small farmers in particular have more questions about what they grow
At a glance
Climate change means that crops that may have grown well in a location in the past won’t grow well there in the future, for instance if drought is more likely. While many large-scale, commercial farmers can rely on weather and ground sensors to understand how they should adapt to these changes, small-scale farmers, particularly in emerging countries, are not as fortunate. The one thing even small farmers do have are mobile devices. The Agrolly app provides accurate weather forecasts, crop risk insights, and a worldwide knowledge sharing forum to equip farmers with the critical information they need to manage their crops.
Field Test location
Brazil, India, MongoliaTechnologies used
- IBM Watson
- IBM Cloud Object Storage
- The Weather Company APIs
State of readiness
- In testing
The Agrolly story
In 2020, an international group of university students from Brazil, India, Mongolia, and Taiwan coming together at Pace University realized that regardless of where they came from, small farmers were all experiencing a similar problem: generational knowledge on what to grow was no longer working as climate changed. They decided to join the Call for Code Global Challenge, inspired by the opportunity to use technology and data to help small-scale farmers make crop decisions using the Agrolly mobile app. The Agrolly solution won first place in the 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge.
The Agrolly team won the $200,000 USD grand prize, and is currently receiving comprehensive support from IBM, the Linux Foundation and the Call for Code ecosystem to further test and develop the solution in communities spanning Brazil, India, and Mongolia. They have continued to speak to small farmers across the globe to better understand their needs and build out a database of crop information, from climate conditions to soil and watering requirements.
Looking ahead, the Agrolly team aims to enhance their solution with other information useful for small farmers, and expand its user base. At a macro level, the team is confident that this solution will not only provide assistance to the small-scale farmers and their families, but bolster food security and economic growth globally.
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