When the temperature inside one of the northwest Iowa hog barns he manages spiked this spring, Kyle McCarter didn’t panic. Instead, he opened his phone, checked the alarm on his Agri-Alert app and adjusted the temperature conditions inside the unit using AP Connect — all from the touch of his smartphone.

That’s the beauty of Automated Production’s (AP) innovative systems, which combine to enhance monitoring capabilities by turning a producer’s smartphone into a virtual barn window. Temperature, water, humidity, static pressure, heat and auger run time can all be monitored and adjusted remotely.

“Sure enough, it got warm one day, and I was having my alarm trigger at 81 degrees, but...