Growers to benefit from new generation farm software program – Farmers Weekly

Up to now, farmers who use Omnia for its precision farming and field analytics tools have had to run a separate program to manage and record pesticide use.

But the new Easyplan upgrade sees Hutchinsons become a new player in the pesticide records market that is dominated by Gatekeeper and Muddy Boots, both owned by the same Canadian company.

The company says the major upgrade to its Omnia Digital Farming system creates the next generation in farm management software for UK agronomists and farmers.

Oliver Wood, Hutchinsons’ head of Omnia, says the aim is to help farmers solve problems, reduce their paperwork and have up-to-date records.

But the one thing farmers have been asking for is to have everything in one place, rather than running separate programs. And they want it to be easy to use.

The result is a single system that can cover the whole journey from crop inspections right through to analysing crop performance in each field.

This has been achieved by introducing new modules along with upgrading existing ones:

1. Crop inspection (upgraded Omnia Scout app + upgraded Field Diary module)
2. Crop protection plans (new Spray module)
3. Field applications (upgraded Field Diary module)
4. Farm stock management (new Farm Stocks module covers spray, seed and fertiliser)
5. Crop performance (upgraded Business module containing existing tools like the net margin maps)

Here is a look at how it can benefit farmers at the different stages:

The upgraded Omnia Scout function enables observations to be recorded while out in the field, including the exact location. Farmers can take and upload photos such as weed patches and make notes, says Lewis Mckerrow, head of field-based IT at Hutchinsons.

These are transferred into Omnia, so that those with access can see diary observations for each field within the upgraded Field Diary module.

The new Spray module enables agronomists and Basis-registered farmers to write their own spray recommendations.

However, the hard part was creating the new Halo crop protection database.

This is at the core of the new Spray module. He points out that there are 47,000 individual pesticides with their own rates and guidelines.

They took Fera data and have added to this, such as agronomists experience on tank mix compatibility.

The database is updated daily by Hutchinsons in-house technical experts to ensure regulatory compliance.

For each proposed tank mix, the program carries out an audit with 15 key checks against the database to ensure compliance with pesticide labels.

This includes being the right crop, growth stage, rate and also if it’s outside any cut-off dates.

“It gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down for each mix,” says Lewis.

It also does multi-year loading in fields, which is valuable for products like metazachlor which has a maximum limit over a three-year period.

The program also checks against the Voluntary Initiative’s tank mix sequence guide.

Lewis explains that the best practice guide avoids compatibility problems that can occur if they are not added to the mix in the right sequence.

Omnia will correct the sequence, before it is published and handed to the sprayer operator.

A significantly upgraded Field Diary module is a planning tool that then becomes a record. It records all live field operations from rolling through to spraying.

Farmers can view all the tasks in a calendar view for each field. This can prove useful for an agronomist in the field, as they can view all the tasks and inputs the crop has received.

The tasks also pull though when calculating gross margins in the Business module.

The new farm Stocks module offers a real-time, stock management system for keeping track of orders, deliveries and physical inventory based on what is actually being used, says Oliver.

It covers chemicals, fertiliser and seed. The program can also handle more complex setups such as multiple chemical stores on different farms as well as separate fertiliser stores and seed stores.

The final stage is to review crop performance and the upgraded Business module contains existing tools like the net margin maps, which help farmers identify areas making money and those that are not.

Omnia with the EasyPlan upgrade will be available within the current Field Manager (£3.15/ha) and Business Manager (£6/ha) subscription levels, with Business Manager being required for the HALO auditing functionality.

For those that are new to Omnia, the Omnia free Access account allows farmers to experience some limited functionality, including annual cropping plans, farm maps and visualising yield data.

The upgrade goes live on 7 June and farmers will be able to see it at this year’s Cereals event on 11 and 12 June in Hertfordshire.

For those farmers who wish to keep paper records, it has been designed to generate pdfs that can be easily printed.