For the agriculture industry, information management and crop production record keeping are crucial to good decision-making and profitability. An Alberta company has developed a new system to help farmers, agribusinesses, agronomists and larger producers manage these tasks.
Landview Systems software provides mapping, farm records management and decision support tools for use in managing crop production information and for making site-specific farming decisions. Available as stand alone software since 1997, a $1 million joint research venture between Alberta Research Council and BCL Landview Systems Inc., Edmonton, brought Landview Systems online this spring.
"For many farmers, keeping records well-organized is a challenge," says Paul Barlott. "This system is not only for record-keeping and crop planning, but is also a financial planning tool that can provide budgets including expenditures on a field-by-field basis." There is a built in sensitivity analysis to help make adjustments for inputs such as fertilizer, chemicals and other factors.
"We're marketing this system through agri-businesses, not directly to farmers," explains Barlott. "Companies like United Grain Growers (UGG) and Agricore are using our software with their clients as part of their agronomic services." The UGG Vermilion Region, a beta test site, is one company currently using the online system. They started using the system two years ago with a few area farmers.
"We recognized a need for farmers to better understand their true costs, rather than using an estimated guess," says Keith Berrecloth, UGG territory sales manager in Vermilion. "Although there are a lot of programs out there, we found Landview Systems to be accurate, providing farmers with a true reading so they can make better decisions." Farmers benefit from one-on-one contact with a specialist, who can provide them with accurate and reliable management information. Berrecloth is working with Barlott to add cattle production to the system this year.
One of the biggest challenges for Berrecloth was getting farmers to recognize the value of paying for this service. "Although a lot of farmers say they can do this themselves, most of them don't really have the time or resources to do it properly," says Berrecloth. "Our main focus [in] using this system is to help us provide farmers with a better picture of what their real needs are, which in turn gives them a better perspective of opportunities when they arise," he adds. As a company, the system provides UGG with a better planning tool for ordering products and managing budgets.
One of the key benefits for farmers is the mapping component. By using aerial photographs of the land combined with geographic information systems (GIS) features, the software provides accurate area calculations. "Farmers can now get an accurate indication of acreages and inputs required, rather than guessing," says Barlott. This mapping system helps farmers save money on inputs such as chemicals and fertilizer, and is especially valuable, for example, when signing product or technical use agreements, adds Berrecloth.
Because everything is geographically referenced, the mapping system can keep track of everything from fertilizer, manure and chemical applications, to planning rotations and estimating weed resistance potential. Although not yet being used to any great extent, the system can also provide high-end, precision agriculture information. "As the industry moves towards things like environmental farm plans and compliance systems, this tracking mechanism is going to become a necessity," says Barlott. Berrecloth agrees, noting the mapping system is also valuable for programs such as crop insurance and others.
Farmers also benefit from the online system benchmark component, which is only accessible to farmers on the system and to those who agree to be included in the benchmarking component. "The benchmarks are based on the information for the region, and allow farmers to compare their yields and costs to the average and to the top 50% in the region," explains Barlott. The system provides complete anonymity; no individual information is shared, and is based on a minimum of 10 participants. "We also don't release any information to other companies, it's really the farmer and the company they work with who control the access," adds Barlott.
The biggest benefit to companies purchasing the online system is they no longer have to worry about software or buying a lot of hardware. They can have access anywhere, as long as they have Internet access. The system will run on any browser and even on Macs. The other big benefit is upgrades to the system are done automatically. However, the software is still available for those who prefer that option.
"Over time we see the whole industry moving to the Internet," says Barlott. For example, even companies like Microsoft are talking about seeing a large decrease in packaged software sales over the next 5 to 10 years. "We predict it might happen as well, and that's why we're going online. We also see the online service as a good opportunity for people to have access to software they couldn't have any other way, and easy access to upgrades and other services," he adds.
Agri-businesses are charged on a per-month, per-seeded-acre basis for the Landview System, which makes it accessible for any company, whether large or small. "We charge our clients on a per-acre basis as well," notes Berrecloth. "There is an initial startup fee in year one because of the mapping requirements, but after that it is a per-acre user fee." Farmers and other users, such as real estate agents, land use planners and others can purchase maps directly online over the Internet from BCL Landview Systems Inc.
This online service can benefit any farmer, regardless of size. "We're seeing farmers with 1,000 acres or more who don't have the time to do this work themselves. But we also have some smaller farmers who find it beneficial because they need to know their true costs," says Berrecloth. Currently, Berrecloth has 180,000 acres on the system, and his eventual goal is to get the whole trading area on the system. Two other UGG territories are starting to work with the Landview System, based on Berrecloth's trial results.
