#hackdaysreport Open Farming Hackdays 2021 – a resounding success!

From 3 to 4 September, the Open Farming Hackdays took place for the second time at the Liebegg agricultural centre in Gränichen. Out of 18 challenges, 9 teams created prototypes within 2 days, ranging from a voice assistant to a consulting tool. Here we present them:

Kuhlexa

“Kuhlexa: let us introduce you!” – and how Kuhlexa introduces itself! The team developed a voice assistant app to support farmers in their daily work (when both hands are busy). For example, a farmer could use a voice assistant while milking to get information, record data or trigger certain actions. The models are digital voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri.

WeedMon + WeedFight

Here a large team split in two to work on a similar problem: automating the tedious and inefficient work of weeding. The team came up with two possible approaches.

1. WeedMon: drone flights over pastures and fields to map the weeds, so that herbicides can also be applied in a targeted way.

2. WeedFight: the design and development of a robot with legs, so as to leave as few tracks as possible.

Gastro-App für Regionalprodukte

Here the team built on an existing product, “Buur on Tour”. This app is intended to make it easier for producers and restaurateurs to buy and sell regional food. An additional function for a delivery and collection service is also planned. We hope the project will soon take off and deliver fine regional products to our restaurants as smoothly as possible!

Dein Foodmatch – Kauf mich, Koch mich!

And what do you do with these delicious regional products? Cook! Dein Foodmatch is the Tinder of ingredients and recipes: this platform shows current offers from regional suppliers with matching recipe and wine suggestions. Specifically, existing platforms that specialise in regional and seasonal products are to be linked together. This way, while shopping online, the user gets ideas about what can be cooked with the products currently available and which regional wine might go with it.

#cropex

#cropex is the result of many challenge owners. Using various environmental parameters, partly from the swisstopo data opened up in 2021, different maps, information on soil composition and on certain pest areas, the aim is to identify which plant grows best where. The goal is to increase yields and to sow plants where they thrive best.

Mit Konzept in die Zukunft

Which farmer needs financial advice? Which farmer should network better with restaurateurs? How can a family farm survive in the future? The team “Mit Konzept in die Zukunft” is developing a guide (in the form of business-specific questionnaires) for strategic planning and advice on farms. These are intended to help farm managers set priorities for the future and put things on the right track.

The questionnaires are designed so that they can be used not only in agriculture but also in other sectors. The different sectors could thus also benefit from one another.

Digitaler Wirzkalender

The Wirzkalender is the most successful specialist agricultural publication in Switzerland. Today the Wirzkalender comes in two volumes in paperback format – yet it would be much simpler and more useful if it were accessible via an app. That way, all the knowledge the Wirzkalender offers could be put to optimal use. The team set about digitising the Wirzkalender and linking terms.

FarmCHECK

Farmers are required to undergo numerous inspections, which involve an enormous amount of preparation. An inspection app is intended to support farmers in preparing for these inspections. The dynamic app is to include a digital checklist as well as concrete and specific advice.

All the challenges worked on and the status of the current projects can be viewed on Hack Farming Opendata.ch by Opendata.ch. Together with the Liebegg agricultural centre and the Hightech Zentrum Aargau, Opendata is a sponsoring body of the Open Farming Hackdays; the main sponsor of the event was Aargauische Kantonalbank.

The Opendata.ch team would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to Urs Podzorski and the Liebegg agricultural centre for the great cooperation.