In your smart office and your personal life, you likely have some kind of device in front of you every day whether it is a smartphone, desktop computer, tablet or laptop. In the past, you could only carry out your tasks from the office. Being able to bring your work with you and reduce the amount of materials you have to carry is a great advantage when you have to get business done while away from the farm office. Here are apps that can help you stay productive and organized no matter where you are.

1) Invoice on the go.  Wave Accounting free financial software for small businesses. The service can link to bank and credit accounts for easy upload, and has an mobile app.

2) Keep communicating.  Skype and Google have messenger services that are an excellent way to quickly communicate with clients, vendors and colleagues. Depending upon your connection, you can also video chat - a helpful tool when communicating needs or repairs in another location.

3) Have an upcoming business trip? Tripit can help you to upload, map and plan your entire trip itinerary in one place. No more searching for different airline, car rental or hotel stays - you can keep them all in one place with this convenient app.

4) Expense tracking does not have to be a headache. With Expensify, you can quickly log your charges and receipts, and the app will also produce custom expense reports.

5) Notes, reminders and collaboration. Digital assistants have become more and more helpful in setting reminders with verbal commands, but if you still want to take notes or collaborate notes with others, try apps like Evernote, OneNote or Trello. All have unique features, and are excellent tools to help you stay organized on your smartphone or desktop.

6) Keep it in the cloud. Cloud storage can free up space on your smartphone, but it can also help you access files you would not normally store there. Consider services like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud.

7) Make mileage tracking easy. MileIQ offers some free trips and has a paid version for more frequent tracking. The app calculates your mileage from place to place, and alerts you to categorize the trip. You can categorize your travel any way you’d like - swiping one direction for business and the other for personal.  

8) Track the weather. You probably have an excellent weather app like Wunderground currently installed on your smartphone. Another tool to consider is a rain gauge. The Pocket Rain Gauge is a tool that can help you keep track of how much rain your fields have received. The app provides you with field-specific weather data once you set it up on a desktop account.

9) An all-around ag news smartphone app. The Farm Futures app is your resource for the latest news, commentary and market information. The app is available for free on Android and Apple devices.

Got smartphone app recommendations for farmers? Share them with us on Twitter @nerdsquawk or via email at [email protected].

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.