Farm Management Software Platforms Go All in for Growth
September 28, 2020 So many technologies … creating so much data … in so many silos. How is a grower supposed to keep track these days?
“By collecting data in separate silos, it is hard for growers to get a complete picture of what is happening in their orchards,” Judah Cofer, an Account Executive with Agworld, says. “It is difficult to make the best possible decisions on a daily basis.”
The 14 farm management software companies profiled here aim to ease that pain.
“In the current environment, uncertainty is omnipresent, and daily decisions can mean the difference between profitability and problems,” Cofer says. “These daily decisions can be improved by adding data from multiple sources together and letting them form a complete picture together. When technology providers collaborate, growers are the winners.”
Part of the need to collaborate digitally stems from an increased desire for growers to plan their seasons together with their advisors, Cofer says. With both parties having visibility into what has transpired and what is still to come during the season, growers, he says, are able to better plan their cash flow requirements, input requirements, and farm labor scheduling.
“Heading into 2021, with a range of unique issues, such as COVID-19, market difficulties, and other new challenges likely to form, I’m told being able to create a plan and adjust this accurately as the season progresses will be an imperative for fruit growers,” Cofer says.
LABOR EFFICIENCY
There is currently a “tremendous, tremendous shortage” of farm labor, according to Udi Sosnik, the owner of Orange Enterprises. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in Washington picking apples, or doing vegetables in California, or doing tobacco in South Carolina,” he says.
On top of that, labor has become “so, so expensive,” Sosnik says; 50% to 60% of expenses, he estimates. Therefore, it is a “whole new ballgame,” he says, in terms of managing labor efficiency. “You have to have a tool that you can rely on — for scheduling, putting the shifts together, and measuring rankings of employees on efficiency.”
A tool that can do all of that in real time is even better. “If you’re traveling and driving around, you can see what the crew is doing in real time. You can see if your results are in line with your expectations,” Sosnik says. “Issues of scale, issues of equipment — everything comes to the office in real time. It’s unbelievable to what extent you can control your labor force. And everything is digitalized. Whenever you have an employee, all the enrollment, all the onboarding documents, all will be done electronically.”
Labor laws only exacerbate the situation. “It’s amazing,” Sosnik says. “We have customers now that will bring a bus all the way from Mexico. Those employees yesterday were in Mexico. Today they are literally a major force in the harvesting of strawberries in Salinas County. You have so many labor laws that, if you are not up to snuff, you are going to be sued. You are going to be out of business before you know it.”
CROP DIVERSITY
Most of the farm management software systems in the market only address one crop type, according to CropTrak President Aaron Hutchinson. However, successful farming organizations typically have several different types of crops for economic diversity, he says.
“CropTrak supports all crop types in one central system, including commodity, produce, timber, and fruit,” Hutchinson says. “We give a single holistic picture vs. lots of individual pictures per crop. Our modules can add capabilities to sub-contract and monitor other growers in addition to traditional farm management information system tasks.”
TECH ROUNDUP
AgKonect (Brisbane, Australia) — The company uses a field services platform to build an interface that addresses the specific problems of clients. “Our clients usually come to us with a particular, serious need that cannot be met by the farm management platform,” CEO and co-founder Pete Whittle says. “As they use our solution, they see other uses for it and gradually build out more functions, which they can do for themselves or have AgKonect do it for them.”
AgSquared (Washington, DC) — According to Kevin Hannigan, Vice President of Sales, growers need to: have their stuff in one place; quit driving around picking up paper tickets; get field activity information from where it is generated to where it is needed that same hour; quit scrambling for audits, and; have their financials in hand throughout the season. “Our Enterprise offering,” he adds, “does all that plus other things, like payroll, inventory, REI/PHI notices, water reports, etc.”
Agrivi (London, England) — Many growers use farm management software as a record-keeping tool, according to CEO Matija Zulj. “However,” he adds, “farm management software should be used primarily as a planning tool to make data-driven decisions. This requires creating new habits of growers and adjustments of some processes but helps significantly in bringing farm management practices to the higher level.”
Agworld (Perth, Australia) — Orchardists, staff, agronomic advisors, and stakeholders can collaborate on the same Agworld platform and choose the data they wish to share with those who are important to their operation. “To me, this is what Agworld offers us: improved safety; easier communication; less risk; and, of course, a good dataset of inputs used,” Luke Anderson, Area Manager with Allan Brothers Inc. in Yakima Valley, WA, says.
CropTrak (Tucson, AZ) — A flexible software suite can centralize farm data from multiple persons, systems, and locations. “CropTrak is a ledger system, so just doing your job, you’re already capturing the information it takes to answer these requirements,” Hutchinson says. “Being flexible means collecting more data to meet the expanding needs is only minutes away, giving you first-mover advantage in the marketplace.”
FarmLogs (Ann Arbor, MI) — The company’s software makes it easy for growers to understand profitability across their businesses so they can more easily evaluate ROI and drive profitable changes, CEO and co-founder Jesse Vollmar says. “We also increase management productivity throughout the season, saving farms valuable time and helping them use data to avoid costly mistakes,” Vollmar says.
Farmbrite (Hygiene, CO) — The company’s software is easy to use and affordable, according to CEO and co-founder Janine Russell. “Each growing operation has different needs. There is not one way of doing things. The software you use shouldn’t be in your way. It should be another tool that you use on your farm to produce your crop,” Russell says. “Technology is constantly changing, and we are focused on adapting to that change.”
Farmers Edge (Winnipeg, Canada) — The company’s In-Cab Tool connects to its telematics device, CanPlug, to stream real-time planting, spraying, harvest, fertilizer applications, and field maintenance job data along with equipment performance diagnostics. “With the CanPlug, growers can monitor where everyone has been, where they are, the status of a job, plus machine data to help paint the picture of how efficient they are with both labor and machinery,” Product Marketing Manager Ben D. Johnson says.
Granular (San Francisco, CA) — The company’s software can be a “game changer” for operational collaboration, task management, and streamlining farm data, Lead Product Manager Libby Spaulding says. “With everything being available in the cloud, it helps everyone stay on the same page and allocate work in an efficient way. The ability to quickly pull reports at any point, with the most up-to-date information, can save op managers/office staff time and headaches,” she says.
HeavyConnect (Salinas, CA) — The company’s platform allows growers to manage their compliance plans, including food safety, quality assurance, worker safety, labor management, and buyer requirements, CEO Patrick Zelaya says. “Many of the challenges facing growers today have recently been addressed in adjacent industries using mobile technology,” he says. “The HeavyConnect platform is an example of this technology. We work with both small growers and enterprises to save time while also minimizing compliance risks.”
KisanHub (Cambridge, England) — The company’s crop monitoring diaries “create the ability to foresee crop risk, which could impact quality and quantity,” CEO and co-founder Giles Barker says. “The observations are collected through our app. The new mapping feature shows the geolocation of diary images alongside notes, which can be viewed by the agronomy team to easily locate where in the crop they need to focus their efforts.”
Orange Enterprises (Fresno, CA) — The company’s PET Tiger labor management software provides real-time attendance and productivity tracking that, according to owner Udi Sosnik, motivates employees by allowing them to see their productivity throughout the workday. “A text message will be sent to an employee, and he will be able to see what he accomplished. He can see, “Up to this point, I did 21 pieces.”
ProduceIQ (North Palm Beach, FL) — The company’s technology is the first anonymous trading platform for qualified growers and buyers to negotiate directly and achieve greater access and efficiency, according to founder and CEO Mark Campbell. “ProduceIQ has a vision that growers, particularly those that are small and local, will be more sustainable from an economic perspective,” Campbell says.
Provision Analytics (Calgary, Canada) — The company’s platform is now used for more than 50% of the cold produce shipments in Canada, tracking food safety and quality control for transporters such as VersaCold. Provision recently collaborated with BC Tree Fruits Cooperative to win a BC Traceability Funding Program approval, which gives grant coverage that allows more than 400 farms to begin using Provision, CEO Erik Westblom says.
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