The document discusses the development of the Crop Disease App by DEPI in Victoria, Australia. It aimed to increase the use of disease resistant crop varieties and reduce chemical use by enabling farmers and agronomists to identify diseases and compare variety resistance ratings in the field. It details the process of developing the app over two years with a developer, including design, data collection, beta testing, launch, and ongoing updates. Evaluation found it was well used but high maintenance and expensive to develop, and key learnings included the importance of industry consultation, a clear concept, and planning for long-term updates.

1. Crop Disease App
Frank Henry and Chris Sounness
DEPI, Horsham Victoria

2. How did we get from an old phone
to a Smartphone?
May 2011

3. What captured our imagination?
Industry Consultation

4. The Journey
Paddock - Crop Disease App - Paddock
Resistance is the key to integrated management.
Screen 60,000 wheat lines for disease resistance.
App is part of a multi-faceted extension program.
Crop diseases cost Vic. $120
million per year.

5. Aims - Pilot Project
Increase the use of resistant varieties and reduce chemical use.
Enabling agronomists and farmers to compare the diseases resistance
ratings and identify diseases in the paddock.
Investigate the potential of smartphone technology for Ag extension.
Document the learning experience.
Apply key learning to other Ag extension projects.

6. The App Developer
24 August 2011
“Am I Ready to Build an App” video Danny Gorog
“Good apps take a long time to
release.”
“Take a lot of maintenance, a lot
of care, and a lot of effort
afterwards.”
“You’ve got to spend money on
design”.
“If you’re not a developer, you
have to seriously consider what
you bring to the table . . . enter
these things as a partnership. . .”
Why Outware? Good track record, worked
with DEPI, leaders in the field, recommended
by colleague, approved for whole of Gov.
contract, they understand us, and most
importantly - they understand science.Many excellent Australian developers.

7. “Kick-off” meeting
2 November 2011
Project planning.
How apps are designed.
Five big buttons.
Organises data
“spreadsheets”.
Contract.
Wireframes.
Beta testing.
Live in the App store.

8. Back to the drawing-board
Layout Crop Disease App
Five big buttons - CROP: DISEASE: COMPARE: SHARE: MORE:
CROP
CEREAL: PULSE: OILSEED:
WHEAT: BARLEY: OATS
Axe bread wheat is AH quality
Moderately resistant to stripe rust ..

9. Wireframes
3 January 2012

10. Crop Disease App

11. Data - Spreadsheets
1. Crop Varieties 326
2. Crop Diseases 113 (62)
Total of 20,771
entries
4. Disease Images 120 jpgs
3. Disease Resistance Ratings 20,212
Spreadsheets: drive me nuts!!!!
Might be time to move to a database
Cut & Paste
Victorian Winter Crop Summary
Disease Resistance Ratings
Disease Image Library
GREAT IDEA!

12. Beta testing
4 April 2012
Beta testing (bugs, feedback, improvements, images).
Beta testers from GRDC agronomy updates Feb 2012.
Known when to stop testing/developing, and say enough lets fly.
Testflight distribute of the app.
Submit to iStore through developer accounts Apple and Google Play.
Apple takes 7-10 days for further testing Apple. Three days Android.

13. App launch
Version 1.0 original release July 2012.
Version 1.2 for release July 2013.
* Thirty new disease images.
* Multiple disease images.
* Pinch to zoom disease images.
* Management added to diseases.
* Exotic (not in Australia) diseases added.
* Sort varieties by resistance ratings.
Minister Walsh launched the app
Birch Expo 5 July 2012.
Version 1.1 for iOS6 January 2013.
Plant Pathology stand
Birchip Cropping Group Expo

14. Evaluation
Basic information from developer accounts (Crash
reports, Country, Device, Downloads).
Daily installs – Check most days. Peak 2 days after an event.
5000 total installs - how many times the app has been downloaded.
2,500 active installs - how many instances of the app is actively used.

15. Google Analytics
26 August 2012 to 23 June 2013
Page views 80,495
Length of visit 8.27 min
Pages per visit 10.5
Bounce rate 6.23%
Victoria 60%
Returning 80%
New 20%
iOS 53%
Android 47%
Pages Views Number %
Crops 11,319 14.1
Disease/DiseaseType/Details 8,183 10.2
Crops/CropType 7,398 9.2
Crop/CropType/Varieties 7,359 9.1
Disease/DiseaseType 7,265 9.0
QuickCompare 6,226 7.8
Diseases 5,815 7.2
Crop/CropType/Varieties/Details 5,594 7.0
Crop/CropType/Varieties/Details
/Resistance
2,421 3.0
QuickCompare/EditCompare 2,300 2.9
63,880 80%

16. Key learnings
Expensive and high maintenance.
Know when to stop developing, and go live.
Use a high quality developer.
Cost the same for iPhone, Android, iPad, Tablet.
Apple takes 7-10 days for testing. Android ~ 3 days.
Need a plan to ensure the app can be updated.
Consult with industry, first. Ask them what they want? Have a clear concept.
DEPI information highly regarded. App was an appropriate choice to delivery.
Native app may not be the appropriate delivery mechanism.
Information first - delivery mechanism second.
Developed for iPhone and Android. Will work on iPads/tablets.
Information, software and hardware are continually changing.
Don’t underestimate the time involved. Huge commitment.

18. The Future
Fully mature app, low maintenance costs
System in place to update varieties in
February each year.
Apple will update their operating system
(iOS7) in September 2013.
Android systems also upgraded.
Take the app Australia wide.
Started in May 2011. Launched July 2012. Update July 2013

19. Now is would be good time to download
the Crop Disease App
DEPI web site
depi.vic.gov.au