2013 Volume 22 Issue 4 Pages 236-246
Although information technology (IT) is common in intensive farming, it is uncommon in extensive farming. In this study, focusing on the effectiveness of information sharing, we applied IT to sugarcane, a major crop in the southwestern islands of Japan, as an example of extensive farming. We developed a mobile application termed “SugarNavi” to support harvest efficiency. Using SugarNavi on a smartphone or tablet, operators of harvesters upload their working locations and operation status to a server, which then changes the schedule of harvest plan according to location, status, and weather conditions. Typically, the information shared by farmers, harvest operators, and sugar refinery staff varies with the progress of harvest. This variation can limit the shared information. Instead, the functions of SugarNavi, information visualization and sharing, could be used to achieve consensus on the harvest schedule. Testing of SugarNavi by users allowed us to identify problems that we will face in actual use.
