Structured Report: Sprout — Data-driven Crop & Irrigation Platform

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🔹 Problem

Farmers lack a simple platform that merges weather forecasts, yield history, and soil/water data to predict crop cycles and irrigation schedules. Current solutions are fragmented or paid, limiting accessibility.

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🔹 Solution

A monolithic Next.js app (with Leaflet maps + API routes) that:

• Collects weather + soil + historical yield data.
• Runs rule-based models (and ML later).
• Predicts crop cycles & irrigation schedules.
• Delivers guidance via dashboard + SMS/email export.
• Uses free-tier APIs and open datasets to remain cost-free initially.

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🔹 Techstack (Minimal)

• Frontend/UI → Next.js (monolithic app) + TailwindCSS.
• Maps → Leaflet.js (free + OSM tiles).
• Database → Supabase (free Postgres + Auth + Storage) or SQLite (self-hosted MVP).
• APIs → Next.js API routes (server-side logic).
• ML/Models → Rule-based irrigation engine inside Next.js API routes (optional Python FastAPI microservice later).
• Notifications → Email (free via Resend / Gmail SMTP), SMS (skip for MVP).

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🔹 Free APIs & Links

🌦 Weather APIs

• Open-Meteo (Free, No API Key) → Weather forecast & historical data. 🔗 open-meteo.com
• WeatherAPI (Free tier) → More detailed forecasts. 🔗 weatherapi.com

🌱 Soil & Crop Data

• SoilGrids (ISRIC) → Global soil properties. 🔗 soilgrids.org, API: rest.soilgrids.org
• FAO AgroDataCube → Open agri datasets. 🔗 data.wur.nl

🛰 Remote Sensing (optional)

• Sentinel Hub / EO Browser → NDVI, crop health. 🔗 sentinel-hub.com
• Google Earth Engine → Free satellite analytics. 🔗 earthengine.google.com

📍 Maps / Geocoding

• Leaflet.js → Free map rendering. 🔗 leafletjs.com
• OpenStreetMap Tiles → Base map. 🔗 openstreetmap.org
• Nominatim → Free geocoding. 🔗 nominatim.org

📊 Market Prices (India)

• Agmarknet → Daily mandi prices. 🔗 agmarknet.gov.in

📤 Communication

• Resend (Free Email API) → Farmer reports. 🔗 resend.com
• Gmail SMTP → Free email via Gmail. Docs: support.google.com

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🔹 Core Features (Monolithic Next.js MVP)

1. Farmer Dashboard

   • Leaflet map (draw/select farm location)
   • Weather forecast widget (Open-Meteo)
   • Soil profile (SoilGrids API)

2. Crop Cycle Prediction

   • Planting → Harvest timeline (crop type + weather)
   • Seasonal suitability suggestions

3. Irrigation Scheduling

   • Rule-based (crop coefficient + evapotranspiration)
   • Calendar of irrigation dates/amounts

4. Yield History Upload

   • CSV upload (Supabase Storage)
   • Visualize yield vs weather patterns

5. Reports & Alerts

   • Export irrigation/crop cycle plan as PDF
   • Email notifications (Resend/Gmail SMTP)

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🔹 External Innovative Features

1. Offline-first PWA for low connectivity areas
2. Geo-fencing alerts (flood, heatwave)
3. Community benchmarking (compare yields anonymously)
4. Open crop advisory dataset integration (FAO / ICAR)
5. Multilingual UI (Next.js i18n)
6. Simple ML model (train with uploaded yield history)
7. Satellite NDVI monitoring (Sentinel free tier)
8. Voice reports (TTS via browser / free Google TTS)

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🔹 Feasibility to Farmers

• Free APIs → no cost
• Leaflet + OSM → no map fees
• Offline PWA + Email export → works with poor connectivity
• Low device requirements → runs on cheap Android phones

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🔹 Conclusion

A monolithic Next.js app can provide actionable crop & irrigation insights using free weather/soil APIs + Leaflet maps. MVP focuses on rule-based irrigation + crop cycle models, with optional satellite, ML, and WhatsApp/multilingual features later.

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Contributors

• Sarthak Patil - Core Fullstack Programmer
• Utkarsh Vidwat - Data and API Engineer
• Prathamesh Kolhe - ML Engineer