High-Tech Record Keeping For Apples
July 17, 2012 At a time when accurate record keeping is more important than ever, both for food safety and cost management purposes, more and more growers are looking for software that can allow them to manage spray records accordingly. In fact, a recent discussion on the Apple-Crop listserv, an email-based discussion forum for apple growers, concerned the available options for pest control record management. Growers responded to the inquiry with their personal recommendations, which included the following services.
Trac Software
Listed for turf as well as fruit protection, Trac Software, developed by Juliet Carroll of the New York State IPM program at Cornell University, helps growers keep their records up-to-date, generate reports, and analyze pest management strategies. Written in MS Excel, a widely used spreadsheet program, these things combined can help growers improve their IPM practice by serving as a central location for all IPM reports, which Trac conveniently creates for you.
Ease of use is also important to growers trying to keep track of their records, so Trac Software utilizes a drop-down menu listing pesticide trade names and target pests so growers can simply find what they use and plug it in, preventing typing errors and improving accuracy.
In addition, Trac provides an EPA Worker Protection Standard Central Posting form. Trac Software is now timeless as well, as it has an open ChemTable which can be continuously updated.
For more information, go to www.cctec.cornell.edu.
Apple Tracker
A record keeping and orchard management system launched by The Ontario Apple Growers and developed in coordination with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs as well as DragonFly IT, Apple Tracker features PHI/REI email notifications, more than 100 treatments, including tank mixes and rates to treat pests at certain growth stages, warnings alerting you that maximum recommended number of treatments is drawing near, and chemical lists with product labels. This system also helps growers calculate tank mixes for better accuracy.
In addition, Apple Tracker features software for reports that allow you to compile information and sort by activity, date range, block/orchard, target pests, and more. The report can be saved as a PDF or sent via email for maximum ease of use. Furthermore, Apple Tracker can be linked to Agricorp GPS data, so time doesn’t need to be spent entering your operation into the system. And, finally, Apple Tracker allows users to enter information about their spray equipment, so the system can automatically fill in the correct sprayer configuration, eliminating guesswork.
For more information, go to www.appletracker.com.
2012 Form Recorder
This spreadsheet, provided by Penn State University, is meant for simple and timely reporting of spray records in Eastern orchards. Available for free online, the spreadsheet includes chemical lists, maximum applications allowed, rates, target pests, and resistance action classes.
Divided in tabs at the bottom of the Excel document are the categories of instructions, background info, and forms for apples, peaches, and cherries as well as tabs with the pesticides, active ingredients, EPA registration numbers, REI, PHI, use class, and much more information for each crop.
The background information tab lists important information that growers call fill in such as cost, number of acres, applicator information, and more. The spreadsheet calculates amounts automatically and can easily be customized through deletion of unused pesticides or addition of others to fit each growers’ needs.
For more information, go to http://agsci.psu.edu/frec.
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