France’s Leading Berry Producer Witnesses Unprecedented Growth With FarmERP
Introduction
One of France’s leading Berry producers was having a tough time handling its operations, especially labour management and pest management. This agro-enterprise has greenhouses across 4 locations producing Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry and Blackberry. The combined area under cultivation, including the 8 greenhouses, is about 300 hectares.
FarmERP developed new systems and customised their existing solutions to match the needs of the Berry producer perfectly. With FarmERP’s support, the agribusiness witnessed staggering improvement with respect to labour administration, crop quality, pest detection and mitigation, inventory management, etc.
Challenge
- Berries are a very expensive crop. This is because Berry picking is an extremely skilled job and hence, the wages of Berry picking workers are also quite high.
- During peak seasons, this Berry grower has over 1000 labourers working on its farms every day. As a result, tracking the quality and quantity of every labour’s harvest was too challenging for the Berry grower.
- Earlier, this agro-enterprise relied on excel spreadsheets to keep a record of the activities performed by labourers on a daily basis.
- The lower temperatures in France lead to high moisture levels. This was making the berries more susceptible to pest infestations and diseases.
- It was not possible for the Berry producer to keep track of the type of pests and to identify the specific field areas that were prone to pest attacks and disease outbreaks.
- There were significant variations in the harvest details recorded at the field and the amount received at the packhouses. This was mainly due to theft and other malpractices.
- Keeping track of and managing inventory seamlessly was too difficult considering the enormous amount of harvests generated every day.
- Staying updated with the dynamic labour laws was quite arduous, especially because the Berry producer managed all the administrative functions using excel spreadsheets.
Approach
FarmERP first examined and analysed the entire process workflow to understand the critical challenges that were inhibiting the operational efficiency of the Berry grower. A significant change brought about by FarmERP was the shift to software systems from excel spreadsheets. With the help of various modules including human resource, production, post-production, maps, QR Code printing, and analytics, FarmERP devised effective strategies to overcome the obstacles faced by the Berry producer.
- FarmERP helped the Berry producer to track and assess the Berry picking efficiency of each and every labour.
- FarmERP created a specific service for labour tracking wherein every worker was provided with a unique QR code.
- Scanning this QR code provided details such as the time spent by a worker on the field and the number of berries harvested by him/her. This, in turn, helped the supervisors and managers to assess the efficiency of every worker, which made decision making simpler for them.
- The judgment about who will get the bonus became system-generated instead of supervisors making the decision.
- By capturing data in real-time, the Berry producer was enabled to reduce the variations between the actual harvest quantity recorded at the fields and the amount of harvest received at the packhouse.
- FarmERP created a labour analytical dashboard for the client. With this dashboard, the Berry producer was enabled to track –
- Real-time information about harvests pertaining to a particular crop, site or plot.
- Active pickers on the field at any given moment, number of active pickers for a specific crop or site, and names of these active pickers.
- Details about the efficiency of each and every labourer to identify the top-performing and worst-performing pickers.
- Estimated vs Actual harvest reports in real-time. The estimated vs actual comparisons can also be obtained specifically for a crop, site or plot.
- Data about total pest count, number of pests on a specific plot, and pest evolution graphs.
- Pictures clicked through the mobile app could be viewed from anywhere with the help of the maps module of FarmERP system. With the field scouting feature, FarmERP made it easier for supervisors and the management to gain access to numerous vital parameters whenever a pest is identified on the field. This included details such as pest category, crop type, infestation percentage, and plot details.
- With FarmERP’s QR-code printing feature, the agro-enterprise managed to print multiple QR codes with a single click. Similarly, scanning numerous QR codes together was also made possible by FarmERP.
- FarmERP integrated wireless weighing scales to get details about harvest weight on mobile devices.
Benefits
After joining as an agritech partner, FarmERP bolstered the efficiency of on-field practices as well as streamlined the administrative workflow for the Berry producer. As a result, the agro enterprise saw stunning results in the form of accurate wage calculations, better labour tracking, effective pest management, etc. Through tech-driven solutions, FarmERP has made it possible for the Berry producer to improve its labour management decisions. This has helped the agribusiness to produce the desired quantity and quality of crops consistently.
- Assessing the performance of pickers as well as supervisors became simpler for the client.
- The Berry producer was provided with accurate information about harvest amount recorded at the field as well as the actual quantity obtained in the packhouse.
- With the FarmERP system, pest and disease detection became extremely accurate. FarmERP’s maps module made it possible for field supervisors to precisely identify the specific area of a plot where the pest was identified. Field supervisors and managers were also enabled to track the evolution of pests and take quick, productive measures to mitigate the threats to crop health.
- Images of every crate of berries helped the management to keep track of and assess the quality of the harvests.
- The process of giving incentives to workers became more accurate and transparent.
- Higher precision in labour performance tracking helped the enterprise in simplifying and making wage calculations more accurate.
- Along with real-time pest and disease data capturing, FarmERP’s maps module assisted the client’s experts to remotely assess the pest infestation scenario and provide a suitable solution.
- QR-code printing and the feature of scanning multiple QR codes together eliminated repetitive, tedious tasks and helped the client in saving a lot of time.
- Managing inventory in real-time became easier with FarmERP’s next-gen farm management software.
- With high-tech software systems, the Berry producer was empowered to always stay compliant with the dynamic labour laws and have complete control over its administrative functions.
Let’s Connect
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