Development of QAgriSupport, a GIS-based Agricultural Production Process Management System, and Foregis, a Mobile Application

Abstract

In Japan, subsistence feed production has gained momentum in recent years. There has been an increase in the establishment of feed production contractors and efforts by cultivating farmers to grow feed crops, which are then harvested and purchased by contractors and others. These efforts serve a large production scale where the target fields are dispersed over a wide area. Thus, it is challenging to manage the work progress, which is a significant issue in the production field. Multipurpose process management methods and software are available for general manufacturing industries. However, applications for agricultural production, especially those that allow process management while displaying field information on a map, are expensive and lack sufficient functionality. To address these issues, this study developed a free, map-based agricultural production process management system, QAgriSupport, and a mobile application, Foregis, which can be coupled with QAgriSupport for agricultural enterprises that are large-scale and have widely dispersed fields. These applications have been introduced at a farm-type TMR (total mixed ration) center engaged in large-scale double-cropping of corn and a large-scale rice production corporation engaged in rice WCS (whole crop silage) and forage rice production. In addition, these applications have made a significant contribution to agricultural production process management by improving the efficiency of field-to-field movement and reducing the time required for work orders.