Aberdeenshire farmer invents new app to help machinery maintenance

This gave Mr Skivington a prototype ready for testing. The app is intended to be used before starting work with any tractor or implement. He says; “There are ten checks for a tractor which should only take a couple of minutes in total. A tractor and trailer should only take five minutes. It does put some onus on the operator but it could save their driving licence if it means all the lights, brakes and mirrors are working as they should.”

Information is all stored in an accessible cloud based system. It allows the farm manager to see any issues that should be rectified. Serious defects show up as ‘red’, meaning the machine should not be used. Other issues, for example nearly worn out share points on a plough, can simply be noted allowing time for replacements to be ordered.

The plan is to develop a servicing page which will include such details as oil filter numbers. The Smart Farmer app is seen as being particularly relevant to machines such as loaders or forklifts which can a have a number of drivers without any one of them having responsibility for daily checks.

“The scope for saving costs and improving health and safety is obvious, but it is also great information to have to hand for quality assurance audits,” says Mr Skivington.

He has proven the value of the Smart Farmer app in his own job at Slains Park which is the base for a 1,800ha (4,446 acre) enterprise. The ten full time operators in the arable team can often be 15 miles from base using a wide range of equipment.

“Primarily this has enhanced our communications which is really important given the multiple enterprises in the business. These include cereals, potatoes, bulbs, peas and beans, pigs and dairying as well as renewable energy.

“The app is still being developed and by next month we will be able to print out individual maintenance records for each machine,” says Mr Skivington.

By the beginning of this year the Smart Farmer system was ready to be commercialised. It was launched at the LAMMA Show in Birmingham in January and so far 38 farm businesses have subscribed. A seven day trial is available with the subscription priced at £495 plus VAT per year. This includes the cost of cloud access and data storage with no limit on the number of machines or operators.