LogMeIn, announced that Boston, USA-based agriculture company, Freight Farms has selected LogMeIn’s Xively Internet of Things (IoT) platform to build a connected farming environment for customers of their fast growing Leafy Green Machine hydroponic growing facilities.
These facilities are built entirely inside repurposed shipping containers and allow for immediate growing of a variety of crops regardless of weather conditions resulting in access to year-round local, fresh produce.
Built on the Xively platform and working with Xively professional services, Freight Farms has been able to create a suite of apps for connected farming that allow farmers to monitor the health of their crops and operation from anywhere. Through the app farmers can monitor everything from air, water, nutrients, plant growth, temperature, humidity and CO2 levels. The real-time data and alerts for vital signs that fall out of range ensures best possible growing conditions while reducing the overall time required for farmers to be at the farm.
“We set out to challenge the status quo of the food industry and knew connecting our farms was going to be a necessity for success,” said Brad McNamara CEO and Co-Founder of Freight Farms. “We also knew we needed a partner to help bring that vision to life. Xively by LogMeIn offered us an easy way to connect our farms and farmers and provided the security and scalability we required. In addition, LogMeIn’s strong legacy of connecting products gave us the confidence that their experts would not only meet our expectations, but exceed them.”
In addition to helping farmers create and maintain optimal growing conditions, Freight Farms has gained insights into the current state of any of their farms to help diagnose and remedy issues remotely and soon will be able to proactively fix issues. Additionally by connecting Xively interactions with Freight Farms analytics provides the company a window into how people are using the farms – giving them ideas on how to design a better experience to meet their farmers’ needs including app enhancements and the ability to provide supplies as they become needed.
“Freight Farms offers a very unique take on how companies are looking at the IoT to fundamentally change their industry,” said Paddy Srinivasan, vice president and general manager, Xively by LogMeIn. “In this case, it’s easy to see the immense potential around how connected farms can create a more sustainable food supply by optimising harvests and creating access to fresh, locally grown produce in virtually any community, regardless of local climate or season.”
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