An online service allowing Canada's farmers to quickly look up treatment data for any treatable crop pest problem has brought  a substantial chunk of its offerings out from behind the pay wall.

Guelph-based The Savvy Farmer Inc. on Tuesday announced the launch of Savvy Farmer lite, a free version of its Savvy Farmer software.

The "lite" version will allow growers and ag pest control professionals access to data including:

• listings of all products that control any weed, insect or disease in any of over 750 Canadian-grown crops;
• access to those products' labels "within seconds;" and
• photos of "over 1,000" pests, including weeds, insects, crop-eating wildlife and -- in the forms of their symptoms -- crop diseases.

The new service "was created in response to farmers who want quick and easy access to pest control information but do not feel they need the added features within the full Savvy Farmer paid software," Savvy Farmer president Warren Libby said in a release.

"While Savvy Farmer lite contains fewer features than the advanced version, we believe many farmers will find it an extremely convenient tool that they will refer to often."

Since the free service operates as a cloud-based application, its data can be updated every day Savvy Farmer receives information on new products and label expansions, the company said.

"It's a rare day that there isn't new information to add to Savvy Farmer... and we work hard to be the most complete and current source of pest control information in Canada," said Libby, the former president (1996-2001) of Syngenta Crop Protection Canada.

Farmers and other users won't have to subscribe to Savvy Farmer lite, the company said, and will need only to go online to use the software "immediately and as often as you like."

The company will continue to offer more "in-depth" information through its subscription-based Savvy Farmer Advanced and Savvy Farmer Pro services.

The subscriber-only services offer deeper information on treatments, as well as filters to customize treatments, and electronic record-keeping capability.

Libby, now also president of research and development firm Wellington Agri-Business and consulting firm Evergreen Bio-Ceuticals, launched the Savvy Farmer service in late 2010 in partnership with Syngenta's former head of information systems, Sam Vurrabindi, now president of software development firm Enable InfoTech.