Software programs provide farm management options

Software developers have been working to create a wave of products designed to help farmers easily track their production from seed to supermarket, and to help manage inventory more efficiently by recording when fields will be ready for harvest and whether the yield may be on the high or low end.

Nearly a half-dozen software startups took part in a virtual Grower Trial Network this spring, sponsored by the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, which brought together software developers with farmers who might use their products one day soon.

One participant in the online event, a firm known as rfxcel, said its software can help farmers track the location of their harvests, particularly to track food safety questions.

"We have mobile devices that people can use to log in. It gives them quick identification in case of recalls, so you can track back to where it was picked and look for cross-contamination,"said Herb Wong, vice president for marketing and strategic initiatives at rfxcel.

Wong said software designed to trace produce for the purposes of food safety reports and recalls can pay for itself with improved inventory management.

"We focus on supply chain efficiency," he said. "This can give you efficiency in terms of tracking the weight of the harvest and the number of items picked. You can even add photos from the field."

GeoVisual was one of the initial six companies at the Salinas-based Center for Innovation & Technology, with software packages developed for the demands of specialty-crop farms.

Its platform was built to integrate new and old sources of information, to help farmers increase efficiency by anticipating pest, disease, irrigation and harvest issues before they happen. The program also aims to help coordinate crop yields across multiple fields to optimize the supply chain, compare new inputs, equipment and management techniques.

Another firm, Heavy Connect, offers a series of software packages designed to help agricultural employers meet regulatory requirements and submit required reports.

The company's Inspector app includes checklists that can be filled out in the field, to make sure Food Safety Modernization Act and OSHA requirements are followed, record necessary corrections as they are made and upload the data in a format intended to simplify reporting. A related app, Grower Management, combines all the information relevant to FSMA from numerous fields.

Heavy Connect also offers Timekeeper, to help employers comply with labor regulations while simplifying the work of a payroll department.

One of the startups at the center offers software that combines information from dozens of sources that can affect the profitability of a truckload of produce.

"There are 67 variables that impact a truck of fruits and vegetables," said Margaret Montoya, chief operating officer of Ag Tools. "Our tool was created for the farmers so they could suggest to the shippers where and when to send the crop."

Information from Ag Tools has always been publicly available, but Montoya said rather than spending countless hours with pencil and paper, a user can make a couple clicks on a smartphone to analyze a shipment.

"In the past, you could get data from many different places," she said. "Now, at your fingertips, you can get data about production, markets and 25 years of pricing at different locations around the country. You can see the historical weather data between your farm and different shipping destinations. You can also see there are better times to plant than others."

For example, Montoya said, the software can inform decisions on when to plant strawberries and how many, or when to harvest oranges to be best positioned in the global market.

"If you know the historical data from the Southern Hemisphere, you can know when to pick and ship your oranges, or when to hold them," she said.

Though some of the firms in the network are just beginning to introduce themselves to farmers, others have already developed relationships with large growing operations.

"We work with several growers in California and Arizona," said Bryan Banks, chief operating officer at KIPTRAQ (pronounced "keep track"). "One of our largest clients is Taylor Farms; we help manage data in the plants and as they look for pathogens in the field. We record all the things the big guys like Costco are asking for these days."

Banks said KIPTRAQ can serve as a bridge between the field, where the data is entered, and the office, where the information is turned into graphical presentations.

"We make it easy to capture the information on a phone and then turn it into nice-looking documents," he said. "We can also print labels in the field or at the plant."

The program is versatile enough, he said, to serve numerous purposes for large growing operations.

"One customer in the Yuma area who has 10,000 acres uses it for employee training, tracking the chlorine in the water, scheduling machine maintenance and tracking whether the harvest will be early or late and the yield light or heavy," Banks said.

(Bob Johnson is a reporter in Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)