Since the beginning of human civilization, agriculture has been essential for preserving food and energy. Farming and agriculture, two of the most ancient and common occupations in humanity, have always changed to satisfy the needs of an expanding populace. With noteworthy instances like Arya Ag obtaining $29 million to spur innovation in the industry, agritech businesses are becoming more and more prevalent.

Improving production, sustainability, and efficiency in agriculture requires the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies. Understanding the many aspects involved is crucial if you’re planning to develop an agritech software and want to know how much it will cost. This leads us to the financial aspects of creating customized software for the particular requirements of the agriculture industry.

Making wise investments in agriculture software development services that can advance agricultural operations into the future requires an understanding of the cost of developing software.

What Is Agriculture Software Development?

The goal of the agriculture software development industry is to meet the specific demands of the industry by developing digital tools and solutions. Systems for managing livestock and crops, as well as tools for precision farming and crop monitoring, are all examples of the kinds of software that fall under this category. These technologies allow agribusinesses and farmers to maximize their operations, boost productivity, and make data-driven decisions by utilizing data analytics, AI in agriculture, and the IoT.

Forecasts indicate that the agriculture software industry will grow from its 2018 valuation of $2,152.5 million to a total of $4,126.4 million, representing a CAGR of 11.7%. This rapid growth underscores the increasing adoption of technology in agriculture to meet the demands of a growing global population and the need for sustainable farming practices.

Types of Agricultural Apps and Software

Some of the most common types of agricultural software include farm management, livestock management, crop monitoring, and accounting.

Farm management

Farm management software serves as a centralized platform for farmers, streamlining their daily activities. It encompasses features for assessing profitability, expense tracking, crop production monitoring, livestock record-keeping, and more. 

By integrating record-keeping, planning, management, tracking, sales, and reporting tools, this software simplifies the entire farm management process. This way, farmers can operate their businesses more efficiently.

Livestock management 

Livestock management software is designed to assist farmers and livestock producers in efficiently managing their livestock operations. This software helps track and monitor the health, breeding, nutrition, and overall well-being of animals.

For example, poultry businesses can use livestock management software to get information such as daily egg yield, historical egg production, and production comparison in one dashboard. These visual representations offer a clear and concise overview of key metrics, facilitating efficient analysis and decision-making.

Crop monitoring

Crop monitoring software is a solution that helps track the health and condition of crops both in real time and using historical data. This software combines the software part (a computer program) and hardware (sensors on the field).

Crop monitoring software can help protect crop health by detecting issues such as pest infestations, diseases, and water stress. It also records field data to generate economic analysis and real or projected profit evaluations.

Agricultural accounting 

Agricultural accounting software is a specialized software designed to help farmers track and manage income, expenses, and inventory. This software simplifies tasks like budgeting, tax compliance, and financial analysis, providing insights into profitability.

Using such software helps maintain accurate inventory records, preventing overstocking or shortages, and optimizing resource allocation.

Developing custom software will allow you to combine the features of different agricultural applications (say, livestock management and accounting in one). Besides, you can have custom software developed for your industry; for example, a winery management software that includes winery management, HR management, and cost analysis features.

Agriculture App Development Cost Estimation

Agriculture apps have transformed the way farmers manage crops, livestock, and other agricultural activities. They are intended to streamline farming processes, provide data-driven insights, and increase farm productivity. Agriculture App Development Cost Estimations depend on various factors and are best provided by experts with experience in various aspects of app development and know the agriculture app requirements.

However, creating an agriculture app is believed to be a time-consuming and expensive process. But, with a robust agriculture app considering the ROI, the application can be termed as a much more useful and cost-efficient investment. Determining a fixed cost to develop an agriculture app is difficult since it depends on a number of factors. Taking all those factors into consideration we can say that cost to build an agriculture app starts from USD6000.

Here’s what goes into the final amount, broken down by project phases:

However, you should also mind that the more features more the tech stack required; hence, it would ultimately add up in the overall app development cost.

The following are some of the factors that can influence the agriculture app development cost:

• The app’s features will play a crucial role in deciding the cost. Some costly features include real-time monitoring, weather updates, and pricing updates.
• One can develop agriculture apps on multiple platforms like Android or iOS. Cross-platform development can significantly increase the cost of the agriculture app.
• The application’s design will play a vital role in enhancing the app’s user experience. The agriculture mobile app development cost will also depend on the visually appealing nature of the app.
• Agriculture apps utilize a lot of data, including weather conditions, soil quality, and drones; therefore, managing and analyzing data can be quite expensive.
• Agriculture app development cost also depends on the development team hired to build the app. Whether you build an in-house team or outsource it to mobile app development experts.

Features for Agricultural Apps

There are numerous agricultural-related apps on the Play Store and iOS Store. Each app is different and displays some new features. Regardless of the kind of app, there are certain elements that are necessary to increase the number of users. Some assist farmers in forecasting the weather, while others assist them in making money off of their harvest. Farmers may find it challenging to choose an agriculture app’s features.

Read Also: Why Should You Consider Progressive Web App Development for Your Business?

Here are some of the best features which farmers can include in an agriculture app.

• GPS: It is hard to imagine an agriculture app with a GPS feature as it allows farmers many location-based features. For example, if farmers use drones, GPS can help them track the device.
• Chat: As technology is becoming more complex, many farmers need advice from experts to understand them. Therefore, a chat feature can help farmers in developing a better understanding.
• Broadcasting: This feature will help farmers host video calls where other farmers from the community can join and share valuable tips and advice.
• Cloud storage: Cloud services can help farmers upload images and videos of the crop with AI-powered backend development and can help them prevent pest invasion and manage crop and cattle health effectively.
• Secured payment gateway: Farmers planning to sell their yield digitally will need a secured payment gateway that can protect the financial data of buyers and keep everything under control.
• Weather forecasts: Though technology has reduced farmers’ reliance on the environment, the weather remains an important factor in crop production. Integration of weather forecasts is a useful feature for an agriculture app. The key here is precise information that is constantly refreshed: at least every hour.

Agriculture App Development Process

Strategic planning is necessary while creating a full-stack agriculture application. Here are a few of the best ways to create an agriculture app in brief, though you can consult an app development guide for more information.

Defining objectives

The first and foremost thing to consider while building any application is understanding the goals or objectives. Farmers should question themselves on what functionalities they require within the application and what target audience they want to target. Along with research, it is also advisable to learn some foolproof app monetization strategies in order to make your app work financially.

Conduct in-depth market research

It is quite essential to conduct in-depth market research before getting started with the project. Conducting market research based on the end users perspective will help understand the farmers key requirements and also help them in solving new problems with innovative solutions.

Design of the app

The design, also known as the UI and UX of the app, can decide whether the app will succeed or fail. When the best practices for mobile app design is followed taking into consideration all criterias and audiences give the best design. One has to create a lot of prototypes to visualize the app’s design before finalizing the application’s user interface.

Development

Once the design is finalized, the next part of the app development process starts, where technical development happens, including agile methodology, coding, testing, third-party integrations and debugging. So, it is highly recommended to find out the technologies on which the application must be built based on the budget and the features within it.

Launch

Finally, when the app is developed after multiple testing and debugging, it is now the right time to launch the application to the market. When the concern is about launching the application in the market, one has to focus on advertising and branding to attract the target audience.

Maintenance and support

Even after the development and launch, the app needs regular updates and support to make the agriculture app future-proof. Assuring the right app development process, foolproof business strategies, and finally, the best maintenance, you can get an agriculture app build that performs to its best.

How is Programming Used in Agriculture?

1. Smart Irrigation Systems

One major way coding is solving problems in agriculture is the use of smart irrigation systems. Coding is used to create software that control irrigation systems based on factors like soil moisture levels, weather forecasts, and crop water requirements.

In the old days, farmers had to just guess when and how much to water their fields based on feeling the soil. But now, they can actually bury tiny moisture sensors underground that monitor the soil moisture levels, temperature, and other vital status and send real-time data to a central hub, how incredible!

This data is then processed by algorithms that can detect anomalies and trigger automated responses, such as activating the irrigation system or alerting the farmer to potential issues. This ensures that crops receive the right amount of water at the right time, conserving water and optimizing yields.

2. Predictive Analytics:

Software-driven precision agriculture also helps farmers decide the perfect timing for planting seeds and crops through machine learning algorithms. These systems can analyze tons of historical weather data, rainfall patterns, temperatures, etc.

Then they use that info to forecast things like crop yields, disease risks, and the optimal planting schedule. For example, it can predict when a crop is at risk of disease or pest infestation based on patterns and historical data.

These algorithms help farmers make decisions that maximize productivity and minimize risks.

3. Automation and Robotics:

Coding is the brains behind some of the cutting-edge automated robots used in agricultural field today. These high-tech robots are making lots of farming tasks easier and more efficient. For example, the robotic planters and seeders, carefully plant seeds in straight rows at the perfect depth and spacing.

Coders program these robots to follow precise GPS maps of the fields and plant seeds according to specific parameters like crop type, soil conditions, etc. Also automated sprayers to spray plants with pesticides or fertilizers have been developed.

These sprayers can evenly apply just the right amount of product over an entire field, day or night by using sensors and code to adjust to factors like wind speed to avoid wasteful drifting.

Bottom line

Farm management software development has helped bring significant change in the agriculture industry and with the changing trends and evolving nature of businesses, you must take a step ahead and unleash the true potential of your business.