LiteFarm
litefarm.org
LiteFarm is a free and open-source web app to help farmers manage their farms and advance sustainability science, created at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm (CSFS) in collaboration with globally diverse farmers, data scientists and open-source contributors.
Project Leads
Divya Chayanam, Product Lead
Hannah Wittman, CSFS Associate and Professor at the Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Zia Mehrabi, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder
Kevin Cussen, Product Lead Emeritus
Funding
Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), InterAmerican Foundation (USA), Results Driven Agricultural Research, Alberta Innovates, Royal Bank of Canada, and Scotiabank.
About the Project
LiteFarm supports participatory science research that aims to improve access to digital agricultural technology for farming communities and develop better understanding of pathways towards sustainable agriculture. UBC works with farmer organizations to pilot and evaluate tools and knowledge to help farmers manage their farms in more profitable and environmentally and socially sustainable ways. The code underlying LiteFarm is free and open source (GPLv3) digital public good so that researchers, experts, and developers across the world can help to improve the services offered to the farming community.
LiteFarm was developed by a community of scientists, farmers, designers, developers, CSFS staff, contributors, and students to help farmers manage their farms. LiteFarm is built to both help individual farmers with their day-to-day operations, and to help the wider farming community through identification of solutions for better farm management practices and outcomes.
LiteFarm supports research on climate change, sustainable farming, biodiversity conservation, and the production of healthy and nutritious food. LiteFarm is a complete farm management tool that aims to empower farmers with better decision making by enabling them to plan essential tasks, organize and visualize their farm, manage expenses and certifications, among others. The platform is built to tackle the many socio-ecological dimensions of farming and has engagement across a wide spectrum of partners with a long-term interest in making the world a better place.
LiteFarm is available to try out here.
If you’re a farmer, researcher, organization, or cooperative member and would like to learn more about LiteFarm, share feedback, or participate in the project please contact litefarm.team@ubc.ca.
We are always looking for passionate contributors who can help us in our mission. Please get in touch with us at litefarm.team@ubc.ca.
External Links and Publications
“International cooperation project starts construction of Agroecology indicators in Latin America” (Portuguese original: “Projeto de cooperação internacional inicia construção de indicadores da Agroecologia na América Latina”), Cepagro – Centro de Estudos e Promoção da Agricultura de Grupo, January 22, 2021.
“Agroecology in Latin America: building paths” (Portuguese original: “Agroecologia na América Latina: construindo caminhos”). Cepagro – Centro de Estudos e Promoção da Agricultura de Grupo.
“New Digital Farm Tool Launches for Farmers” LFS ReachOut Magazine
“There are Apps for Everything . . . But Do They Really Help Farmers?” The Canadian Organic Grower
PI Mehrabi leads Baselines working group for the CGIAR Community of Practice on Data Driven Agronomy