An eAgriculture Center/Office is typically a physical location that provides a set of eAgriculture related services. For example, a small eAgriculture center in a remote area may provide basic eagriculture services through mobile devices and collaborations with nearby farmers and populations. A larger eagriculture center may provide additional services such as quality assurance and crop life cycle mnagement. An even larger center may in fact be a smart global village of farmers from neighboring locations.

 

Figure 1 shows a high level organizational view of an eagriculture center that can be specialized and simplified for smaller centers. This diagram is a business pattern that captures the eagriculture specific processes/services such as farm administration and farm life cycle management. Although the main focus of an eagriculture center is on agriculture related services, shown in the red circle, Figure1 also captures the general administrative processes such as customer services, sales, marketing, finance and accounting, and corporate management. In addition, the operational processes of warehousing and supply chains for the farm products and food distribution.

 

The following diagram (Figure1) shows BPP of eAgriculture. It shows:

• The common BPs (orange) BFs. The main difference is that the inventory is of the crops produced or the live stock that is sold to the consumer
• The agriculture specific BFs (blue/grey) that consist of:
• Agriculture Production that produces and grows the live stock or farm products that are sold directly to the consumers or Agricultural/Farming Networks. This BF also produces the agricultural data that is produced by the farms.
• Agricultural Logistics that is responsible for Farming Life Cycle Management (e.g., growth of the live stock and the crop) and also Farming Quality Assurance (e.g., making sure that the live stock and the crops are healthy).
• An Agricultural Network (Agri-Net - yellow) where farmers can collectively market and sell their products.

 

Fig 1: eAgriculture Business Pattern

 

Figure2 shows a Portal view of a Basic  eAgriculture Center that provides the following services:

• General Internet access, search and email services  
• General Administrative Services  such as marketing and customer support
• Agricultural Production such as  growing of crops and/or live stock, maintaining farm equipment and data/knowledge management for farming    
• Agriculture Administrative Services such as crop life cycle management and quality assurance of the farm products
• Additional Agricultural Services such as food safety and distribution. In addition, education and training for food and 

 

Figure 2: Portal View of a Basic eAgriculture Service Center