Staffordshire University ran a student/farmer grant-funded project prior to the 2012 London Olympics to help consumers find out about who had grown their food and how it was produced. This ‘Farmers on Film’ project was based on special ‘augmented reality’ postcards produced by the University of Derby (Buxton). Cambridge University is behind a lot of recent ‘augmented reality’ (AR) technological development. So the poms have been very productive indeed and it’s fabulous to see food producers have been one of the first subjects for such exciting technology.
How does the Farmers on Film project work?
Consumers download a specific app (application, i.e. small programme) onto their smartphone, aim their phone’s camera at the ‘augmented reality’ image printed on the specially produced postcard, then after a couple of moments (depending on download speed) a film about the farmer and food production starts to play. The real background is visible behind the phone (the ‘reality’); while the ‘augmented’ bit (the short film clip) plays on the screen. So in this instance ‘augmented reality’ means adding something extra to reality, in the form of information and/or entertainment, via your smartphone.
The Farmers on Film project appears to have been aimed at the influx of tourists due to the Olympics, but clearly it’s a fabulous idea in our increasingly urbanised societies, for all consumers to be able to learn who grew the food they’re about to purchase.
The potential uses for this ‘augmented reality’ technology are very exciting indeed for farmers worldwide. It presents an absolutely brilliant opportunity to bridge the ever-widening gulf between city-country food production and environmental management knowledge. The astonishing thing is that augmented technology hasn’t taken off in Australia yet, despite the huge uptake of smart phones (phones able to access the internet). AR technology is a sleeping giant. I suspect few understand what it is, let alone how it works or what the potential is. That was me too, yesterday.
How does ‘augmented reality’ work?
My head is hurting after trying to choke down a plethora of jargon and waffle online. It would appear there’s no-one who has written about it in a practical and simple manner so a lay person can easily understand exactly what it is and how it works. Here’s my very basic summary – especially as it applies to the Farmers on Film project (at least, as I understand it!)
How does a business create an ‘augmented reality’ experience:
- The creator must download an ‘augmented reality’ programme. As I understand it, the app used by consumers must (at least at this stage?) match that used by the creator, so it is vital that creators use the most commonly used AR app by the target demographic. So rarely used at present the door is still wide open on this now, but that won’t always be the case. There are a number of apps, with pros and cons, such as file size. If consumers already have a different app on their phone they won’t want to download a second one; not just due to time factors, but because apps hog phone space. This is the typical type of weak link in the chain that marketers will stuff up – failure to consider whether customers will actually follow through. Pointless having a fancy car if few can be bothered to drive it. It must be as quick and easy as possible.
- Scan the image to be used to take consumers to the film clip. Simple text (such as a standard business card) isn’t good enough, for this image technology to work properly, it must be a reasonably complex (unique) image (eg a photograph of someone – with text as well, if desired).
- The creator must make a short film clip (that will be associated with the above image). This is the second most likely area to fail – neglecting to objectively consider what’s in it for consumers (why they’ll want to watch/listen, as distinct from what farmers think they should be told!). Obviously films of food producers must be well filmed, short and well edited; but also personal and informative from a consumer’s point of view. If too much poor quality AR content is created, consumers will stop bothering to take the time to check AR codes when they’re rushing around shopping.
- Cards (labels, documents, whatever) are printed with the ‘augmented reality’ image on them, for people to scan with their smartphone.
Most businesses would obviously engage an in-house or external specialist (eg graphic designer) to create the ‘augmented reality’ image and produce the cards; and if it’s a sophisticated (potentially high profit) campaign, to make the film and everything else from go to whoa. Although it wouldn’t be hard for anyone who is comfortable to tinker around with technology, filming, editing etc.
Ideally farming organisations will engage a company or in-house staff to help members produce these AR postcards and associated videos. The benefit for the farming organisation is that they are able to help ensure the quality of the end product is high, and not in anyway open to negative interpretation (by animal rights activists, fanatical environmentalists and others quick to find fault).
What does a consumer have to do to use ‘augmented reality’?
- Consumers download a free ‘Augmented reality’ (AR) app onto their smartphone.
- Consumers then point their phone’s camera lens at the specially produced image – in this case, on the FarmersOnFilm postcard. The image on the postcard will be recognised by the app on the phone and after a few moments the phone will start playing the film that has been linked to the AR image.
‘Augmented reality’ images are effectively replacing the ugly and ad space-hogging Quick Response (QR) codes. So in the case of Farmers on Film, the postcards just have an interesting photograph of the farmer on them.
It’s amazingly brilliant technology and the potentially fabulous uses for agriculture are obvious!
Launch of the ‘FarmersOnFilm’, ‘smart postcards’
Video showcasing several Staffordshire food producers.
Free range chook, family farm (12,000 Rhode Island reds laying around 10,500 eggs daily)
Award-winning cheese producer (some of the films have subtitles, for example this version has French subtitles)
Sarah Gayton, the driver behind the FarmersOnFilm project.
I would absolutely love to see augmented reality cards linking to farmer films used in Australia!
And used not just in conjunction with produce sold by farmers direct to customers via farmers markets, but also on produce in supermarkets. A special image could be printed on every produce container (box or packet label) containing food produced by a single farmer (eg cheese). A ‘smart postcard’ could be included in every box of fruit and vegetables, which is then slotted into a card holder beside the fruit or vegetables when it’s put out for sale. Every customer who is interested can use their smart phone to see exactly not just where this particular crop came from, but who actually grew it! Products containing food produced by a number of farmers (eg milk) could have a general video showing several typical farmers from the same region. Brilliant!
Something vital for Australian food & fibre industries to consider right now:
Ideally one app/programme would be chosen for use by the whole of Australian agriculture. This would make it far more likely that Australian consumers would download just that one app and use it to view farm production films across a wide range of food retail outlets – from farmers markets to supermarkets. It must be made as easy for consumers as possible, to maximise use. It would be disastrous if there were a plethora of AR programmes in use, because at the moment it looks like there is not yet a standard. Everyone is busy and it would deter consumers from taking the time to use AR if they have to fiddle around downloading additional apps. AR potential and issues should be being discussed by national farmer groups right now!
Accurate origin labelling – at long last!
Potentially, the Australian Federal Government could make AR labelling compulsory – at least for all products purporting to be Australian in origin. (Absence of an AR label could be used to indicate non-Australian grown/produced items.) On the other hand, market forces may work to encourage it anyway. The age-old problem with labelling is that it’s very hard to fit all the necessary marketing and legal information (eg an ingredients list) onto what is a very small space – let alone extra detail. An AR code enables EXTRA detail to be provided. (Extra information – to supplement what should remain compulsory on all food & product labelling. The public must not be required to use a phone and internet access to view basic labelling information.) Smart Australian food producers and manufactures would embrace this as a marketing bonus. In relation to agricultural products, a compulsory AR code could include:
Where the food or fibre was:
- Grown
- Processed
- Packed
Plus:
- Whether the company is Australian owned, or what percentage is Australian owned; eg 100%, >75%, >50% or <50%. This is the vital bit of information currently difficult to ascertain on many food products on supermarket shelves. Such as the rice bran I was looking to buy recently. Sure the company had an Australian office listed on the label – but it looked very much like a 100% imported product by a 100% overseas-owned company, based who-knows-where.
- As well as what is currently included on standard labels – the full name of the company and contact details.
I am really looking forward to being able to point my phone at a label beside a box of capsicums in our local supermarket, and see – on film – exactly which Burdekin farmer grew the food I’m about to buy! And the education possibilities re geography, climate, seasonal differences, the growing cycle, packaging and transport – etcetera – are mind boggling.
Please contact me if you have any suggestions for additions or clarifications of the above information. This has been evolving over many years but the use described above is very new.
Tags: Image of the bush, Australian outback TV and film, Australian agriculture, Social media and farmers