Google (GOOG) Glass Comes to The…Farm?

This story has been updated.

Google Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) wearable Google Glass tech may soon be making an appearance on American farms.

Bruce Rasa, CEO of TekWear LLC, received a selective license to experiment with Google Glass beta for agricultural uses. Google Glass is sometimes known as a wearable smartphone, allowing users to take handsfree photos, videos and calls.

Google Glass could help farmers with crop scouting, according to Rasa, who is providing a demo for farmers at a major agricultural conference in San Antonio, TX, this week.

“Growers are intrigued by Google Glass, but limited availability means very few have actually experimented with the technology up to this point,” said Rasa in a statement. “The demo gives growers and agribusinesses an opportunity to see, touch, feel and use Google Glass for the first time.”

Farm tech consultant Rasa was among 8000 people in the U.S. selected by Google to experiment with the device ahead of its anticipated official release in 2014. The device costs more than $1500, even if you’re selected.

Rasa helped researchers from Alabama’s Auburn University experiment with the device in cotton fields earlier in 2013.

Real-time uploads of row crop data into the cloud could be useful for crop scouts especially. Farmers stuck with technical problems with complex machinery could also troubleshoot in the field.

“Farmers of a wide range of ages, to be candid, have expressed very high interest in this,” said Rasa in an October 2013 interview. “It’s really getting information to the field nad back – faster, easier and cheaper – that they’ve been most excited about."

"Our Explorer program is expanding all the time and includes people from all walks of life. While Glass is first and foremost a consumer device, it also has a lot of potential across a wide range of industries,” wrote a Google spokesperson an email to IBTimes. “We’re excited to see what people come up with.”

"We have had just absolutely non-stop business here at Commodity Classic," said Susan Lambert, CEO of agricultural data firm DN2K, to IBTimes on Thursday. She helped showcase the device to farmers at the convention, working with Rasa.