When one of Colusa County Farm Supply’s (CCFS) growers showed agronomist Jim Pingrey what Agworld looks like and how it can help farmers as well as agronomists, Jim and his colleagues became interested in how it could improve the growers forecast with chemical and fertility management.
Emerald Farms partner and general manager Leon Etchepare was struggling to keep track of all the information and tasks that were being performed on his farm in Maxwell, CA. As he was trying to achieve more vertical integration of his farming operation, he knew that he needed a centralized platform that would deliver him the information he needed, when he needed it.
Yenda Producers Co-operative used to record their agronomic data by writing it down first and then later entering it in a computer. This way of handling data caused a lot of extra work due to double handling and did not offer an easy way to go back into historic data and find information when they needed it. Also, as a wide variety of both summer and winter crops get grown by Yenda Prods’ growers in overlapping seasons, there is no ‘slow time’ and thus the agronomists had a need to plan accurately and rapidly.
The Roberts’ family farming operation captured data, but mainly in excel spreadsheets together with a total of 55 separate apps. When Ben Roberts joined the family farm, he was determined to make the process of capturing and utilizing data easier and derive more value from the farm data in the end.
When Ben VanDyke started to grow food crops next to his existing grass seed operation, he found that he needed a better way to track his input applications for certification purposes. VanDyke Farms is also surrounded in the immediate area by sensitive crops, which necessitates a high degree of caution when spraying and accurate input application tracking to prevent spray drift from occurring.
Rural Management Strategies (RMS), used a legacy system but were looking to improve efficiencies and change to a system where they could share data more rapidly and where their clients could see and update the plan to actuals in real-time, so that the RMS advisor could follow exactly what was happening in the field.
David Boersma used to spend a lot of time at the end of every month sorting out the jobs that needed to be billed out to his clients for that month. He had to look through eight hand-written books to find out which jobs everyone had performed and worried that jobs would still get missed.
Hemp is a relatively new crop for most growers and not much research on varieties, production and inputs has been published. Hemp is a bio-accumulator, meaning that the plant naturally draws toxins from the soil, and it easily absorbs drifting pesticides. Hemp also utilizes high levels of nutrients and therefore requires skilful nutrition management.
Up until 2016, Lance Funk Farms was using multiple legacy software systems for precision functionality, but none of these systems offered any record keeping ability. In order to organize the farming operation with up to 250 employees in peak season, management had to rely on spreadsheets.
The Toscan family grows a variety of crops and needed a simple way to create records of the spraying operations that take place in each individual crop and field. Prunes form part of their operation and they therefore need to be able to supply accurate records of exactly what inputs have been applied at any given time during the season for food certification purposes.
When Javier Lopez decided to change from retail agronomy and start his own agronomic consulting business, he wanted to embrace and utilize new technologies that would benefit both him and his clients. Over half of Treskilion Management’s new clients were dairy farms, which need to particularly focus on complying with nutritional regulations.
Barenbrug, one of Australia’s largest seed companies, used to do a lot of double handling of information and struggled to keep track of all activities performed on each trial. Barenbrug’s agronomists also were not able to access all historical information when they needed it and instead had to go back to their office and work through paper records in order to find the information required.
Hough Farms was using legacy farm management software but when that company was sold to a large input supplier, they wanted to make sure their farm data was stored with an independent party instead. Hough Farms were also looking for a solution with better reporting capabilities to make data-driven decisions to help manage the business.
Warwick and Di Holding were searching for a system they could use to keep accurate records for their farming operation without creating a large additional burden of work. They also wanted to be able to see accurate financial cropping results for their operation, Pontara Grain, in order to guide them in making more profitable decisions in the future.
Allan Brothers manage a large number of orchards as part of their fruit growing, packing and shipping operation. With their Yakima Valley Orchards comprising over 700 individual blocks of apples, cherries and grapes, they realized a sophisticated digital solution was needed to track their inputs and operations.
Matt and Dan Lane run their 7,500-hectare farming operation, Erin Vale Farming, together with a number of staff and with advice from an agronomist. Because of the sheer scale of the operation, communication between all the different stakeholders was becoming increasingly difficult and at the same time becoming more important.
Froerer Farms grows a range of produce that gets sold to consumers either directly or via retail partners. In order to guarantee the quality and safety of these food products, the Froerer family realized that they had to be able to accurately document the growing process and all the inputs they use on their farm.
K·Coe Isom’s AgKnowledge team aims to improve their service offerings to their grower clients by moving towards a more dynamic way of communication. By improving their way of communicating they want to be able to easily create improved metrics on a more detailed level for their growers to empower them to make more profitable decisions.
The Crozier family produces carrots, potatoes and onions for New Zealand based wholesalers and retailers as well as export. In order to remain NZGAP certified, they have to keep very accurate spray records. They used to do everything on paper but realised that they had to start digitising this process in order to simplify their information flow.
The Pye Group is a large and diversified family agricultural operation that previously had no accurate visibility into the profitability and viability of individual fields. The business managers did not know whether or not certain crops or fields were profitable and neither did they know the exact cost involved in a specific application or operation.
Wairakaia Partnership used to run on spreadsheets but cropping manager and co-owner Bruce Graham got tired of having to retrospectively enter all his data back in the office at night, instead of being able to do so in the field. Bruce also was not able to access his farm data when he needed it most: in the field.
Payne Brothers Ranches saw an increasing amount of ag data coming towards them with no way to capture and handle it. The data comes from different sources such as independent PCA’s, soil reports and tissues analysis, among others. Bob and Bill Payne wanted to be able to have all their data in one spot so they could capitalize on it.
The Elders agronomy team aims to provide a high-quality service to their clients that helps these growers be as profitable as possible. Elders were looking for a digital platform that enables their agronomists to provide a consistent service where agronomists can collaborate with their growers. Elders also wanted to make sure that any software they implemented would be useful for their clients to adopt as well.
CQ Ag Services were looking for a platform they could use to improve both internal and external communication. They wanted to be able to store their observations and recommendations in such a way that all agronomists and their clients have access.
Alturas Ranches used to use field averages for their seasonal reports. Increasingly however, they realized the limited scope of the dataset available to them meant they were not able to use the data to influence their decision-making processes.
Lilliput Ag grows a variety of crops and produces seed for sister-business Baker Seed Co. Lilliput Ag looked to adopt a newer recording platform linked to the cloud to try and track production data. Co-owners Andrew & Sue Russell felt that they had to be able to connect production data to his finance software in order to remain competitive.
Dalby, QLD, cotton grower Steve McVeigh used to have a paper-based administration but realised that, with farming two geographically separated properties, he needed to change his systems in order to have critical information available at all times.
McGregor Gourlay as an organisation used a legacy digital ag solution for their recommendations but was unable to turn this into an integrated approach across the company. They were at the same time looking for a way to provide more ability to forecast to their merchandise managers through increase visibility.
Gillieston Fresh Produce grows tomatoes for wholesalers on the East Coast of Australia but were not able to accurately track nutrition and other inputs applied to each field or record the cost of production and profit for a specific field.
Up until 2015 Valley Agronomics was using legacy software that did not fulfill the needs of the organisation. The agronomy team was not happy with the tools they had, and they did not offer any opportunity for client interaction either.
As agronomist for 22 broadacre growers that all grow winter crops in the same district, Bruce Larcombe experiences extreme peaks and troughs in his workload throughout the season.
In his work as an agronomist, Ruaan Du Plessis realised that higher crop monitoring requirements combined with larger orchard sizes and an increased need for information by growers necessitated a new approach to data accessibility and transparency.
The Jansz Parish vineyard produces a variety of wine and needed a better solution to gain insight into the detailed cost per hectare. It also wanted to produce accurate production budgets for future seasons without adding extra layers of administration and complexity.
In 2014, Drew Bell with Coleman Ag recognized the need to start collecting farm records electronically and in the field, by the people performing the actual applications, instead of behind a desktop in an office. The main drivers for this need were state regulations that enforce pesticide application tracking and to provide workers with accurate information about re-entry intervals after these applications.
Junior Loza was using Excel to keep track of his field applications and costs but was not able to easily run reports or identify his agronomic costs per field, variety or acre. Junior also did not have a tool to help him manage his workforce, up to 40 people in peak season, and ensure that everyone was involved in recording all of the job details.
Luckey Farmers wanted to adopt proven best practices through the 4R program and become certified. Existing data capture and reporting capabilities did not provide efficient means to realize this.
Nathan Soulsby needed to provide integrated agronomy service to BettaCrop clients, which includes their planning, budgeting, scouting and record keeping. Rolf Malmo was new to cropping and needed visibility into his financial performance that he could also take to his bank and other service providers.
Ryan, Richard and Chad Gargas were looking at adopting new technology to improve their business practices without having to use a range of different programs for different parts of the business.
Daly Potato Co. leases land to grow potatoes but is not sure of the exact returns of this leased country. As producers of food products that are sold to consumers as-is, auditors require accurate records of inputs used in the growing process.
Valley Agronomics was looking for a tool that would empower their agronomists to offer better services and outcomes to their grower customers. Grower, Luke Adams, was looking for a better way to work with his trusted advisor, reduce his risks, and keep accurate records.
James Reamer had already managed succession planning from a land and asset point of view, but knew there is a lot more to pass on than just the asset. Jamie, his daughter, wanted to help facilitate the knowledge and experience transfer as quickly and effectively as possible and knew a digital platform was the best opportunity to do so. Jamie also knew that she needed to be in the field to really learn the farm’s subtleties and be of the greatest value to the business.
Brad recognised 10 years ago that, in order to be successful, he had to focus on maximum utilisation of his assets
Vann Brothers has seen rapid growth of their almond orchard as part of their vertically integrated operation. A growing team, new legislation and an increased demand for transparency from the end-consumers of their product meant that old record keeping methods were no longer viable.
Ceres Solutions was using a lot of different platforms to communicate critical data with their growers, which created confusion in the workflow.
Hassad Australia encountered difficulties in consistently managing 9 properties spanning over 100.000 hectares across four Australian states.
Back in 2010, the McCormack family was looking to digitise their business records, save time and improve the decision making process together with their crop advisor.
Ardmona orchardist Mitchell McNab found he was lacking critical information that he needed to plan, prepare operate his orchard operation.
Wholesale needed a collaborative platform to communicate with their growers on, as they were having trouble getting critical information to their growers during the growing season.
H&T Agronomics needed to improve the way they were recording activities and recommendations so that they could easily share this information with their clients.
With running a large farming operation spread over multiple properties and with up to 25 staff members involved, Matt Lane was looking to improve on-farm communication in order prevent issues and communication errors from arising.
Landmark Agronomist Grant Thompson consults to over 20 growers each year and needed a way to record key production information so that he could easily share it with both his growers and his merchandise managers.
