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A Farm Management Information System Using Future Internet Technologies

Article · December 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2016.10.060

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5th IFAC Conference on Sensing, Control and Automation for
Agriculture
Agriculture
5th IFAC14-17,
August Conference on Sensing,
2016. Seattle, Control USA
Washington, and Automation for
5th IFAC14-17,
August Conference
Agriculture on Sensing,
2016. Seattle, Control
Washington, and Automation
USA
Available for
online at www.sciencedirect.com
Agriculture
August 14-17, 2016. Seattle, Washington, USA
August 14-17, 2016. Seattle, Washington, USA
ScienceDirect
A
A Farm
Farm Management Information
IFAC-PapersOnLine 49-16
Management (2016) 324–329
Information System
System Using
Using
Future
A Farm Management Internet
Future Internet Technologies
Information
Technologies System Using
A Farm Management Information System Using
Future Internet Technologies
Future
Dimitris S. Paraforos*, Vangelis InternetDietrich
Vassiliadis**, Technologies
Kortenbruck*, Kostas Stamkopoulos**,
Dimitris S. Paraforos*, Vangelis Vassiliadis**, Dietrich Kortenbruck*, Kostas Stamkopoulos**,
Vasileios Ziogas**,
Dimitris S. Paraforos*, Vangelis Athanasios
Vassiliadis**, A. Dietrich
Sapounas**, Hans W. Griepentrog*
Kortenbruck*, Kostas Stamkopoulos**,
Vasileios Ziogas**, Athanasios A. Sapounas**, Hans W. Griepentrog*
Dimitris S. Paraforos*, Vangelis Vassiliadis**, Dietrich
Vasileios Ziogas**, Athanasios A. Sapounas**, Hans W. Griepentrog* Kortenbruck*, Kostas Stamkopoulos**,
Vasileios Ziogas**, Athanasios A. Sapounas**, Hans W. Griepentrog*
* University of Hohenheim, Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Garbenstr. 9, D-70599, Stuttgart, Germany
* University of Hohenheim, Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Garbenstr. 9, D-70599, Stuttgart, Germany
* University of Hohenheim, (Tel: +49 711 459
Institute 24553; e-mail:
of Agricultural d.paraforos@uni-hohenheim.de).
Engineering, Garbenstr. 9, D-70599, Stuttgart, Germany
(Tel: +49 711 459 24553; e-mail: d.paraforos@uni-hohenheim.de).
* University **Agrostis
of Agricultural
Hohenheim,
(Tel: +49 Information
Institute
711 of
459 Systems,
Agricultural
24553; e-mail: Α.Tritsi
Engineering, 21, Pylaia
Garbenstr. 57001,
d.paraforos@uni-hohenheim.de). Thessaloniki,
9, D-70599, Greece
Stuttgart, Germany
**Agrostis Agricultural Information Systems, Α.Tritsi 21, Pylaia 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece
(Tel: +49 711 459 24553; e-mail: d.paraforos@uni-hohenheim.de).
**Agrostis Agricultural Information Systems, Α.Tritsi 21, Pylaia 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece
**Agrostis Agricultural Information Systems, Α.Tritsi 21, Pylaia 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract: Agricultural production management is entering into a new era where every day farmer’s
Abstract: Agricultural production management is entering into a new era where every day farmer’s
decisions are
Abstract: supported production
Agricultural by highly sophisticated
management Farm Management
is entering into a new Information
era where Systems
every (FMISs).
day farmer’s The
decisions are supported by highly sophisticated Farm Management Information Systems (FMISs). The
latter
Abstract:
decisions have evolved
Agricultural from simple
production record keeping
management software
is into
entering complex
into a new systems
era that
where can
everymanipulate
day large
farmer’s
latter haveare supported
evolved from by highly
simple sophisticated
record Farm Management
keeping software into complex Information
systems that Systems (FMISs).large
can manipulate The
amounts
decisions
latter haveof aredata andfrom
supported
evolved provide
by decision
highly
simple support
keeping capabilities.
sophisticated
record intoIn
Farm Management
software this paper, the development
Information Systems of an FMIS,
(FMISs). The
amounts of data and provide decision support capabilities. Incomplex
this paper, systems that can manipulate
the development of an FMIS, large
which
latter
amounts utilizes
have new
evolved
of data technologies,
from simple
andtechnologies,
provide decision such
record as those
keeping
support which
software wereinto introduced
complex by the
systems European
that can initiative
manipulate Future
large
which utilizes new such as those capabilities. In this paper,
which were introduced development
by the European of an Future
initiative FMIS,
Internet
amounts
which Public-Private
of data
utilizes new Partnership
andtechnologies,
provide decision Program
such support
as (FI-PPP),
those is described.
capabilities.
which were In this The
introduced paper,
bydeveloped
the European
the application
development of is
initiativeanfocused
FMIS,
Future
Internet Public-Private Partnership Program (FI-PPP), is described. The developed application is focused
upon
which
Internet individual
utilizes farmers
new
Public-Private or farmersuch
technologies,
Partnership cooperatives,
as
Program those who wish
which
(FI-PPP), were
is tointroduced
perform
described. Theprecision
by the
developed agriculture
European via isthefocused
initiative
application usage
Future
upon individual farmers or farmer cooperatives, who wish to perform precision agriculture via the usage
of mobile
Internet
upon devices
Public-Private
individual and modern
Partnershiptechnology.
ProgramThe The main
(FI-PPP), focus is to
is described. perform farm
Theprecision financial
developed analysis
application based
via isthefocused on
of mobile devicesfarmers
and modern or farmer cooperatives,
technology. who focus
main wish to
is toperform
perform agriculture
farm financial analysis basedusageon
all
upon
of farm transactions
individual farmers but oralso
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cooperatives, who based
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via theimports.
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farm transactions modern
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The application related
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also estimating profitability based upon fixed values that the farmer imports.
where all related wascostssuccessfully
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The
©
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by Elsevier Ltd. AllL.)rights
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reserved.
Keywords: Big Data, Cloud Computing; Support Systems; Internet of Things
where
Keywords: all related costsCloud
Big Data, were recorded.
Computing; Decision Support Systems; Internet of Things
Keywords: Big Data, Cloud Computing; Decision Support  Systems; Internet of Things
Keywords: Big Data, Cloud Computing; Decision Support 
whatSystems;
farmingInternet
activities of to
Things
execute and what inputs to utilize
1. INTRODUCTION  what farming activities to execute and what inputs to utilize
1. INTRODUCTION  based
what not only on crop and farming and requirements
what inputs tobut also
1. INTRODUCTION basedfarming
not onlyactivities
on croptoand execute
farming requirements bututilize
also
Farmers lack the tools to make informed decisions related to what based on financial
farming (cost
activities and
to revenue)
execute andconsiderations.
what inputs to utilize
Farmers lack the tools to make informed decisions related to based
1. INTRODUCTION
based on
notfinancial
on only on(cost
notfinancial
only on(cost
cropand
cropand
andrevenue)
farmingconsiderations.
andrevenue)
requirements but also
farmingconsiderations.
requirements but also
financial
Farmers management of make
their business,
informed taking intorelated
account to based
financial lack the tools to
management of their business, decisions
taking into account The European
based on financial
Commission
(cost and
launched in 2011 the Future
revenue) considerations.
cost
Farmersand profit margins and profitability analysis. Farm The European Commission launched in 2011 the Future
cost andlack
financial the tools
management
profit marginsto
of make
their informed
and business,
profitability decisions
taking intorelated
analysis. account
Farm to Internet Public-Private Partnership Program
The European Commission launched in 2011 (FI-PPP 4
4), in
the Future
Management
financial
cost and management
profit Information
marginsof Systems
their
and business, (FMISs),
profitability taking which
into
analysis. accountare
Farm Internet Public-Private Partnership Program (FI-PPP ), in
Management Information Systems (FMISs), which are Internet order
The to provide
European innovative
Commission
Public-Private ICT tools.
launched
Partnership The
in
Program overarching
2011 (FI-PPP4),aim
the Future in
systems
cost and
Management for storing
profit and
margins
Information processing
and farm-related
profitability
Systems farm-related analysis.
(FMISs), which collected
Farm
are of order to provide innovative ICT tools. The overarching aim
systems for storing and processing collected the toFI-PPP
Internet
order is innovative
Public-Private
provide to create a ICT
library
Partnership tools.of software
Program components
(FI-PPP
The overarching
4
),aim
in
data, provide
Management
systems support
Information
for storing to farmers
Systems for decision
(FMISs), making
which in
are of the FI-PPP is to create a library of software components
data, provide supportandto processing
farmers forfarm-related
decision making collected in that order
of are
the to called
provide
FI-PPP Generic
is innovative
to createEnablers
a ICT
library (GEs).
tools.of The Theoverarching
software GEscomponents
shouldaim be
every-day
systems forfarm
data, provide storingmanagement.
support andto processing
farmers Various types of
forfarm-related
decision system
collected
making in that are called Generic Enablers (GEs). The GEs should be
every-day farm management. Various types of system public
of
that areand
the FI-PPP open-source
called is to create
Generic and aallow
Enablerslibrary developers The to
of software
(GEs). GEs create mash-
components
should be
structures
data, and
provide
every-day and farm software
support architectures
to
management. farmers have
for
Various been
decision proposed
making in public and open-source and allow developers to create mash-
structures software architectures have types of system
been proposed in that up applications
public are called
and by implementing
Generic
open-source Enablers
and allow innovative
(GEs).
developers The FI functionalities
GEs
to should
create mash- be
the literature
every-day farm (Nikkilä,
management. Seilonen, Various& Koskinen, 2010; in up applications by implementing innovative FI functionalities
structures
the and
literature software
(Nikkilä, architectures
Seilonen, & types
have Koskinen, of system
been proposed 2010; such
public as
and Cloud
open-source Computing,
and allow Internet
developers of to Thing
create (IoT)
mash-
Sørensen,
structures
the Pesonen,
and
literature softwareBochtis,
(Nikkilä, Vougioukas,
architectures
Seilonen, have & Suomi,
been
& Koskinen, proposed 2011;
2010; in up such applications
as Cloud
connectivity, and
by implementing
Computing, innovativeInternet of FI functionalities
Thing (IoT)
Sørensen,
Tsiropoulos,
Pesonen,
Fountas,
Bochtis,
Gemtos,
Vougioukas,
Gravalos, &
& Suomi,
Paraforos,
2011;
2013; up
such applications
as
connectivity, Cloud
andbyBig
Big
Data analytics.
implementing
Computing,
Data Internet
analytics.
All GEs
innovative
All of
GEs
are developed
FI functionalities
Thing
are (IoT)
developed
the literature
Sørensen,
Tsiropoulos, Pesonen, (Nikkilä,
Fountas, Bochtis,
Gemtos, Seilonen,
Vougioukas,
Gravalos, & &Koskinen,
& Suomi, 2010;
Paraforos, 2011;
2013; such and described in detail as a set of Application Programming
Ampatzidis, Tan, Haley, & Whiting, 2016), while a number and as
connectivity,
described Cloud
and
in Computing,
Big
detail Data
as a set ofInternet
analytics. All
Application of
GEs Thing
are
Programming(IoT)
developed
Sørensen,
Ampatzidis,Pesonen,
Tsiropoulos, Fountas,
Tan, Bochtis,
Haley,Gemtos, Vougioukas,
& Whiting,Gravalos, 2016), && Suomi,
Paraforos,
while 2011;
2013;
a number Interfaces (APIs) in the FIWARE 5
platform. The FIWARE
1 connectivity,
and described and Big
in detail Data
in theasFIWARE analytics. All
a set of Application
5 GEs are developed
Programming
of commercial
Tsiropoulos,
Ampatzidis, solutions
Fountas, are
& also
Gemtos, available,
Gravalos, &such as Agworld
Paraforos, 2013; 1, Interfaces (APIs) platform. The FIWARE
of commercial 2 Tan, Haley,
solutions are Whiting,
also3 available,2016), suchwhile a number
as Agworld , andarchitectural
described
Interfaces chapters
(APIs)in detail
in areasFIWARE
the provided
a set of in Fig. 1. The
5Application
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FIWARE
FarmWorks
Ampatzidis,
of commercial 2 , and
Tan, 365FarmNet
Haley,
solutions & ,
Whiting,
are also to name a
2016), few.while
3 available, such as Agworld , a number 1 architectural chapters are provided in
5
Fig. 1.
FarmWorks , and 365FarmNet , to name a few. Interfaces
architectural (APIs)
chaptersin theare FIWARE
provided inplatform.
Fig. 1. The FIWARE
of commercial 2 solutions are also3 available, such as Agworld 1, FIWARE Chapters
FarmWorks
Nevertheless, , and 365FarmNet , to name a few. and involves architectural chapters are provided in Fig. 1.
2 farming is a complex 3 endeavor FIWARE Chapters
FarmWorks
Nevertheless, , and 365FarmNet
farming is a complex , to name a few. and involves
endeavor
many factors
Nevertheless, and
farminginputs: land
is aland
complex cost, labor work, expensive FIWARE Chapters
many factors and inputs: cost, endeavor
labor work, andexpensive
involves CloudFIWARE Chapters Data/Context
machines
Nevertheless,and and various tools, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, Cloud Data/Context
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work, logged,
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logged, Cloud
Hosting Data/Context
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and a systematic
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et
at
are al.,
least 2015).
not in
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systematic andor family
analytic farm
way, owners
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et al., 2015). dispersed
Individualandordifficult familytofarm use (Fountas,
owners Carli,
need IoT Services
Enablement
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are
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Individualandordifficult Technology
family use (ICT)
tofarm (Fountas,
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Ecosystem Interface to
Enablement
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools that Ecosystem Security Interface and
Networks to
will
et enable
al.,
Information them
2015). to log and calculate
Individual
and Communication or family costs,
Technology farmplan future
owners
(ICT) toolstasks
need
that Security Networks
will enable them to log and calculate costs, plan future tasks Devicesand
Interface to
and
will make
enableinformed
Information them decisions
and Communication
to log regarding
and calculate Technology
costs, what plancrop
(ICT) to plant,
tools
future that
tasks Security Interface
Devicesand
Networks to
and make informed decisions regarding what crop to plant, Security Networks
will enable them to log and calculate costs, plan future tasks Devicesand
and make informed decisions regarding what crop to plant, Fig. 1. Architectural chapters of the Devices FIWARE platform.
and make informed decisions regarding what crop to plant, Fig. 1. Architectural chapters of the FIWARE platform.
1
1 http://www.agworld.com.au
Fig. 1. Architectural chapters of the FIWARE platform.
2 http://www.agworld.com.au Fig.
4 1. Architectural chapters of the FIWARE platform.
1 http://www.farmworks.com/
2 http://www.agworld.com.au 4 http:// www.fi-ppp.eu
3 http://www.farmworks.com/ 5 http:// www.fi-ppp.eu
1
2 http://www.365farmnet.com
3 http://www.agworld.com.au
http://www.farmworks.com/ 5 http://www.fiware.org
4
http:// www.fi-ppp.eu
2
http://www.365farmnet.com 4
http://www.fiware.org
3 http://www.farmworks.com/ 5 http:// www.fi-ppp.eu
http://www.365farmnet.com http://www.fiware.org
Copyright
3 © 2016 IFAC
http://www.365farmnet.com 329 5 http://www.fiware.org
Copyright © 2016 IFAC 329
2405-8963 © 2016, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright
Peer review©under
2016 responsibility
IFAC 329Control.
of International Federation of Automatic
Copyright © 2016 IFAC
10.1016/j.ifacol.2016.10.060 329
 IFAC AGRICONTROL 2016
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USA S. Paraforos et al. / IFAC-PapersOnLine 49-16 (2016) 324–329 325
The usability of FI technologies in the context of
environmental applications has been thoroughly examined by
Granell et al. (2016) where it was discussed how FI is
transforming the way that environmental software
applications are being developed. New capabilities are
introduced using the tools of FI towards analyzing geospatial
and environmental data. Kaloxylos et al. (2012) described an
FMIS functional architecture that utilizes advanced FI
characteristics enabling the farmer to become “a node in an
agricultural worldwide web”. A detailed review regarding FI
technologies and the agri-food sector was performed by
Lehmann, Reiche, and Schiefer (2012) where the challenge
of adopting advanced ICT components in agriculture is
highlighted.
The aim of the paper is to describe the development of an
FMIS for small and medium size farms that is able to use FI
technologies. The use of these technologies would give the
possibility to the application to incorporate new innovative
technologies such as Big Data and IoT. Furthermore, the
connection to 3rd party applications could be achieved in a
standardized manner moving, thus, towards a software
ecosystem where many FMISs are interconnected. The FMIS
should also have a farm financial analysis tool, which is able
to make a profitability analysis based on farmer’s input data.
Since in many occasions the farmer is not able to describe all
farm-related costs, the profitability analysis should be able to
provide a “good enough” approximation of the cost and an
analysis using acceptable default values - typical costs per
input and activity - in order to compensate for the lack of
accurate data logs. These values can be found in official
databases and usually they are based on accumulated research
from a large number of farms at a national or an international
level.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fig. 2. Farm entities model of ifarma.
330
2.1 The FMIS
A cloud based FMIS called ifarma6 is developed by Agrostis
Agricultural Information Systems (Thessaloniki, Greece).
It is an integrated farm management application for
individual farmers and farmer cooperatives, who wish to
perform precision agriculture via the usage of mobile devices
and modern technology. One main service of the ifarma is
Farm Entities management. These entities and their
hierarchical relations are depicted in Fig. 2. The software is
able to handle multiple farms where all assets such as crops,
fields, tasks, and inputs belong to.
The data model of ifarma integrates all information relevant
to farm: fields and land parcels, crops, farming activities on
fields and inputs and resources used to plan and execute
theses activities. The data model organizes the information in
a hierarchical manner, where farm is at the top level. A farm
consists of a set of crops each one cultivated in one or more
fields and executed as a series of tasks activities. Each one of
the tasks consist of a set of inputs or resources. Inputs are
prototypes, generic forms of resources that generalize
characteristics of actual resources in categories such as labor,
machinery, equipment, materials, etc. Farm specific resources
are modeled as individual data entities such as workers,
fertilizers, plant protection products, machines, etc. Both
inputs and resources are assigned with their own unit cost and
unit efficiency values per task. These values are used in order
to calculate the total quantity and amount of this
input/resource for each task.
MySQL was used as the database management system of
ifarma imported data. The Entity Relationship model of the
ifarma MySQL database is presented in Fig. 3. As an
example all parameters of farms entity are illustrated. A
separate set of data entities is used to represent financial
6
http://ifarma.agrostis.gr
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Fig. 3. Entity-relationship model of the ifarma FMIS. As an example, all parameters of farms entity are illustrated.
transactions for the farm. All financial transactions are part of the FIspace platform and is used for user
rd
associated with a specific financial season so as profitability authentication and authorization, and (5) any (potential) 3
and cost analysis can be calculated for a given season. Finally party system or service that wants to use the defined ifarma-
the standard values entity is used to define an ordered from a ffa capabilities.
more specific to a more generic range.
2.3 Data security
2.2 Use of FI technologies
In ifarma-ffa the security issue was addressed both from a
In addition to the FMIS, a farm financial analysis (ffa) tool technical and from a business/legal perspective. Technically
was developed based on FI technologies. The ffa is using the wise all data for the ifarma-ffa analysis are stored within an
backend of ifarma FMIS. The combined ifarma-ffa system established, secured, industrial cloud-hosting provider.
architecture and the information exchange is depicted in Fig. Access to the application is secured by virtue of industry
4. The prototype consists of: (1) frontend components, i.e. a standard tools and technologies like FIWARE
set of Wirecloud Widgets that implement the App KeyRock/Keycloak identity management modules. Business
functionality. The Widgets are uploaded/installed in the and legally wise all data under ifarma-ffa are stored and used
Wirecloud GE component instance of the FIspace 7 platform, under the ifarma end-user license agreement (EULA) that
(2) ifarma backend module, i.e. a set of representational state specifically states that the data ownership stays with the
transfer (REST) API services that expose the farm farmer and no other use of the data is possible without the
management and financial analysis capabilities of ifarma, (3) written consent of the owner.
FIspace System and Data Integration (SDI) component that is
used for communication between front- and backend as well 2.4 Graphical user interface of ifarma-ffa
as exposing the backend APIs as FIspace capabilities, (4)
KeyCloak Identity and Access Management (IDM), which is The graphical user interface of the ifarma-ffa is presented in
Fig. 5. As described above, the ifarma-ffa frontend has been
7 developed as a set of interconnected widgets in the
http://www.fispace.eu

331
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FIspace Platform

KeyCloak

3rd Party WireCloud

FMIS –
external
service /
App

SDI

Farm entities management Request/Response

Farm financial analysis Request/Response
Login-Authorization Request/Access Token
Fig. 4. Architecture and information exchange of ifarma-ffa using FI technologies.

Fig. 5. Graphical user interface of the ifarma-ffa web application.

332
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WireCloud GE. These widgets are described in detail below:
Farms: It manages farms and financial seasons. Since the
backend of ifarma is used, Farm is the top level entity in
ifarma-ffa (Fig. 2), where all assets (fields, crops, etc.) are
related with. Financial season is the time period for which the
financial analysis is performed. Ifarma-ffa allows the
management of multiple farms for a user/farmer.
Growings: This widget manages Fields (land parcels) and
Growings (a crop cultivated in a specific field). The Fields
belong to a Farm but a Growing refers to a specific farm and
season. The Growings are presented in a table format, as a list
or in a visual style format via the utilization of Google
MapsTM plugin, as it is presented in Fig. 5.
Tasks (Farming activities): This widget is for the
management of farming tasks and their required inputs.
ifarma-ffa supports a large number of predefined farming
tasks for all type of activities such as soil preparation,
seeding and plowing, irrigation, harvesting, fertilizing, etc.
Each of these predefined tasks is preloaded with the required
inputs (machines, labor work, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.).
Standard Values: This widget manages standard values, as a
set of rules defining cost and efficiency of each Input for each
Task. The standard values can be used to calculate cost of a
farming task even when no specific data is provided by the
user.
Fig. 6. Profitability analysis of ifarma-ffa.
333
Costs: It enables recording of all financial transactions that
are linked with a specific farm. A large number of transaction
types are predefined in ifarma-ffa: product sales, expenses,
goods purchases, land rentals, fuel and maintenance, worker
payments, machine value depreciation, etc. The amounts
recorded in these transactions are used for the provided
financial analyses.
Analysis: It shows the results of the analyses performed by
the ifarma-ffa financial module.
2.5 Experimental Farm
The ifarma-ffa FMIS was tested on a very common crop in
Germany, i.e. winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and for a
time period from 23/09/2014 until 01/08/2015. The winter
wheat was cultivated via direct seeding in a 1.6 ha field
(48.717502°N, 9.182296°E) right after harvesting maize for
silage. All tasks, which were performed by the farmer during
this season, were recorded, including the use of each machine
and the utilized inputs such as seeds, pesticides, fertilizers,
etc. Furthermore, all the financial transactions that were
related to the crop were available (e.g. fuel procurement,
employee payrolls). To test the financial analysis, which is
performed based only on the standard values, the farmers
were asked to provide their own assessment on typical costs
for each performed task in terms of machine and labor.
 IFAC AGRICONTROL 2016
August 14-17, 2016. Seattle, Washington,
Dimitris
USA S. Paraforos et al. / IFAC-PapersOnLine 49-16 (2016) 324–329 329
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The Analysis results performed by ifarma-ffa financial
module for the winter wheat crop is illustrated in Fig. 6. The
Profitability Analysis table on the top left of Fig. 6 shows
Income, Variable and Fixed cost per Field, Crop and Total
farm (in this example only one field and one crop exist).
Gross and Net Profit is also calculated as absolute value and
percentage. These results are based on the transactions that
were imported in the Costs tab (Fig. 5). In addition to the
Table Views, the analysis is also presented with the
interactive graphs to the right of Fig. 6. On the top right of
Fig. 6 the graph shows the Income Profitability by Crop and
by Field. On the bottom right of Fig. 6, the Cost Analysis is
presented as a pie graph.
In the Cost Analysis table right below the Profitability
Analysis table, Cost is split into predefined cost categories:
Fertilizers, Labor, Machines, Pesticides, Seeds, Land,
Irrigation and General expenses. For each Cost Category,
cost is further split into individual Item types (e.g. Machine
or Labor) and cost elements based on the transaction type.
Depending on the cost category and element, under the
Transactions column, the analysis shows the variable cost,
which is directly assigned to the specific field or crop by the
transactions in the Costs tab, and fixed cost that is booked for
the whole farm and later allocated to the fields or crops based
on given allocation keys.
In the Defined Costs of the Logs column, the costs that were
imported as Inputs to the Tasks are presented (the 7 Items in
the Tasks widget of Fig. 5). Furthermore, in the Standard
Values Costs, the costs based only on the user’s Standard
Values can be seen. In this case, the financial analysis is not
taking under consideration the Inputs of each specific task
but only the Standard Values that match each Task. The Cost
Analysis matches, per item type, the cost registered in the
financial transactions with the cost logged in the Farming
Tasks. Based on this match the user can revise the unit cost
of each item type. For the specific case, the level of the costs
is not very high since only a 1.6 ha wheat field for one season
is considered. Nevertheless, a slight difference can be
observed comparing the Cost Sum of the three different
evaluation methods.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The development of an FMIS that utilizes FI technologies
was described. The application proved to be capable of
performing a profitability analysis based on the recorded cost
transaction but also based on the performed tasks and
standard values given by the user. Although the focus of this
paper was mainly on the farm financial analysis, the
described FMIS can also support further FI functionalities.
Since the developed App requires that all data are imported
by the farmer, future work would include to automate the
process of importing data to the FMIS by using tractor-
implement communication information such as ISO 11783
(ISOBUS) data (Fountas, Sorensen, et al., 2015).
Furthermore, the capabilities of FIWARE could be further
utilized by connecting and accessing in-field sensors under
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the IoT connectivity (Havlik et al., 2011) but also by
providing a decision support system to the farmer based on
Big Data analytics.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was financially supported by the German Federal
Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the
Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), grant number
2815ERA01H. This project is also funded by SmartAgriFood
(Smart Food and Agribusiness, Future Internet for Safe and
Healthy Food from Farm to Fork) under the FI.ICT-2011.1.8
Work Programme.
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