What to get “the farmer” for Christmas is an annual questions asked by wives, children and others with farmers on their lists.
Most chain saws are too big to fit in a stocking, artificial insemination equipment does not go over well when opened at family gatherings, and somehow a new pair of work gloves just seems a bit ordinary.

Ask the spouses of farmers and they will tell you not to buy the farmer tools or farm equipment because it will not be “the right one.”

Perhaps you could get something to help organize the shop? Chances are that in a few years you will find it still unopened in the pile of things to donate to the church rummage sale.

Since you are reading this, they already have a subscription to Farm World; so, what to get farmers for Christmas?

Let me suggest a new Smartphone. More than just a cell phone, these devices are information and communication workhorses. Also, they are portable and will work just about everywhere. More and more farmers who are on the go yet need to stay in touch are using Smartphones more and more often.

A recent research study conducted by the National Assoc. of Farm Broadcasters revealed that farmers rely on wireless devices for e-mail, Internet, text messages and even phone calls. While teenagers remain the champions of cell phone texting, the NAFB study showed that a significant number of farmers send and receive text messages regularly. More and more farm information sources are now available on wireless devices. For example, Hoosier Ag Today Mobile provides markets, news and weather free on any Internet-capable wireless device. But, what phone to get?

For the past several months, I have been testing several models with agricultural applications in mind. The first decision is what carrier farmers have or should have. I regularly travel across Indiana; and, in my opinion, Verizon has the best coverage.

Even in remote and rural areas of the Hoosier State, I have had good coverage with Verizon. At Hoosier Ag Today, we use Verizon for many of remote broadcasts. Consumer Reports just rated Verizon the best in service and quality, if a bit pricey. Verizon will conduct a special seminar this week at the Indiana-Illinois Farm Equipment Show on wireless technology and its applications on the farm.

The newest phone in the Verizon lineup is the Droid. A collaboration of Verizon, Google and Motorola, this phone is being seen as the first serious challenge to the runaway iPhone success.

In many ways, the Droid offers the look, feel and functionality of the iPhone but is based on a totally new operating system: the Android system developed by Google. This is likely to be the future of cell phones. It offers a number of advantages over the current industry standard Windows Mobile. Why this is important to us regular folks is that future applications are going to use this system.

The real power behind phones like the Droid and the iPhone are the applications or “apps.” There are something like 10,000 “apps” with more coming every day. They range from the extremely useful to the extremely stupid. These small specialized programs are designed to do a specific task.

Right now most of them collect and deliver special kinds of information to your phone. For example, there is an app that plots your current location and tells you where the nearest Starbucks Coffee shop is located. Another will give you step-by-step directions to the nearest public rest room. Some apps allow your phone to make certain human body noises, which is popular with junior high boys.

There are special applications for agricultural use under development. You may soon be able to find the location of the nearest part you need, tell you how long the wait is to dump corn at the local elevator, or tell you where your hired help has been for the last three hours.

Hoosier Ag Today may soon have an app that delivers the news you want directly to your Smartphone. There are apps that work with social media like Twitter and Facebook so you can brag about when you started planting or what your yields are long before you get to the coffee shop.

Most of these new phones have built in GPS, which means you can mark your location in a field or at that perfect fishing spot. Most come with cameras and video recorders built in. This will allow you to take photos of the city folks that are trespassing on your property.

So, as you can see, a Smartphone is the perfect gift for farmers. It is practical, useful and most likely something they would not buy for themselves. One final advantage: these devices provide two-way communications, which means you can always find farmers to ask when they are coming home for dinner.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.