14TSB_DataExpl Crowd-Sourced Prediction of Plant Pest and Disease Occurrence using Mobile Apps

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Growing Interactive, the industrial lead partner of the project, produces the leading on-line software and apps that gardeners and small-scale farms use to plan the edible crops they grow and achieve increased levels of success. Over a quarter million gardeners and farmers have used their software and apps. They hold a wealth of location-based information on which crops, varieties and quantities gardeners are growing in their location and this year they are extending the recording to include dated observations of pests and diseases on crops (launching May 2014). Event-based journalling has been the most requested new feature for their software and they will be adding social feedback elements to reward reporting.We propose that this data be statistically analysed in conjunction with meteorological information to develop predictive models for pest and disease emergence on crops. By developing advanced map-based visualisations, the vast quantity of crowd-sourced data can be analysed in depth and used to refine predictive models. Meteorological information and weather forecasts can then provide significantly improved pest prediction for growers for the current growing season specific to their location.