Inspiration
Rather than aim our project for already established farmers. We wanted to target our project towards new and prospective gardeners with the hope that new gardeners can help with the worldwide shortage of farmers (Link here). Furthermore, we had hoped to develop a feature that recommended the users of our app to various local food banks to donate any remaining food they grew but didn't need. We ultimately ran out of time for that feature, but were we to continue with the project that feature would be implemented.
What it does
It lets user register login and keep track of their plants, and how much they should be able to evenly distribute along their property. This allows for less hassle remembering what plants you had, how often you should water them, and how far away they should be planted from each other. Our Garden Size page takes in the length and width of a garden and lets the user know exactly how many of each plant they should be able to plant if they portioned out and for each plant.
How we built it
We built the app entirely in JavaScript using React Native for the front end and Express JS for the back end. Firebase was utilized for hosting the back end. MongoDB was utilized for our server. All of which was developed in the Node JS environment.
Challenges we ran into
This project was the first time our group had ever utilized React Native as such we ran into lots of problems throughout Tiger Hacks when it came to working with React Native. One major problem we had was figuring out the routing between screens in React Native. We had multiple issues in which the pages did not route correctly that took a long time to solve. Another challenge we ran into was setting up the back end. We only had one member who had experience with firebase which made it hard for us to deploy rolling changes.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Our app is designed to introduce people of all ages to farming who want to get into the space. With that being said, young people are not as interested in farming as they once were due to it being classed as a low paying career and it isn't a career that is necessarily skilled. With it educating new farmers who aren't familiar with it to start because of the growing shortage which could harm the U.S. economy and food supply in the long run, we are proud of educating everyone especially young people on the importance of farming because of it's importance in our society.
What we learned
We learned React Native a framework for mobile development which let us create an app that is available to all mobile users iOS and android alike using one language, Javascript. We also learned how backend development can hinder frontend development. The most important thing we learned was how to work with a team we were able to get a lot done by allocating tasks to different members to maximize efficiency.
What's next for Garden Guru
The next objective for Garden Guru is to partner with food banks to allow users to donate excess crop supply. It's important that we not only educate people how important farming is to our economy, but being able to give back to society is something we strive for.
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