Hutchinsons launches upgrade to Omnia Digital Farming System – The Fruit Grower
Crop production specialists Hutchinsons are releasing a major upgrade to their Omnia Digital Farming system, announced managing director Gordon McKechnie at an industry launch event in London. ...
The Omnia EasyPlan Upgrade, which has been developed in response to grower and agronomist feedback, works across various crops including softfruit and top-fruit, in addition to combinable crops, potatoes and field vegetables.
Using information from GPS, sensors, drones and TerraMap, Omnia creates insights into crop performance and soil health at different levels so that growers can tailor inputs accordingly, explained Gordon. Fields or orchards can be divided into sub-levels, with recordings assigned to each block according to user needs, he added. New features presented at the launch include spray planning and enhanced checks to ensure optimal crop protection, an upgraded field diary where growers can record live operations and manage work orders as they happen, realtime stock management, and data security.
Lewis McKerrow, Head of Field-Based IT at Hutchinsons, said: “The system provides growers with information that justifies decisions to apply plant protection products. Growers can easily record sprays and pesticide application by orchard, block, or row, which is particularly important for fruit growers as it helps them to achieve the end-to-end traceability increasingly demanded by their customers. Moreover, the data can also be interrogated for bespoke audit checks.
In addition. the new spray module facilitates information on the latest status of crop protection products, thanks to its new pesticide database Omnia HALO. This receives daily updates from FERA and is managed by technical agronomy specialists, which helps growers to ensure that they have the most up-to-date pesticide approvals and EAMUs available when making spray plans. The system can also check whether application meets any growth stage requirements for a particular crop, the number of applications that are allowed of a particular active and provides data for Local Environmental Risk Assessments for Pesticides (LERAP). Any non-compliance issues are immediately flagged, added Lewis.
Other innovative tools include a tank mix sequence guide, which sorts products into the correct sequence, and helps growers deal with dense canopies if higher water volumes are needed. Gordon McKechnie said: “We have expanded the system from providing data for precision farming to a suite of services which help growers maximise profitability and sustainability. In addition, with this new system, there is no need to repeat data inputs because we have maximised data connectivity between multiple ports”.
Omnia with the EasyPlan upgrade is available to growers who do not use Hutchinsons agronomy services, points out Gordon, noting that the subscriber can choose the data they wish to share with their agronomist. He added, “Additional new functionality provides the ability to manage access and permissions for others on the account, such as farm staff and consultants”.
Oliver Wood, Hutchinsons’ Head of Omnia, said: “Working closely with growers, agronomists, and spray operators to devise the upgraded Omnia system has helped us create a major digital leap forward in crop production that is easy to use. Moreover, growers can opt for paperless record keeping and work management while still having the option of printing information when they need to”.
Data security and governance has also been a major focus for the upgrade, continued Gordon. “We have the first system ever with both ISO 27001 Information Security Management and Farm Data Principles certifications. These two schemes are evidence of the robust policies and procedures followed by Hutchinsons to govern and protect data and gives users full control over access to their data and account security. It’s a British system for British farmers and one not currently offered by any other precision software provider.
“Since its launch as a precision mapping system eight years ago, the platform has evolved into a broader digital farming system offering a range of valuable and user friendly business modules, such as cost of production, yield mapping, rotational planning, and carbon mapping tools,” Gordon explained. “With its user-friendly interface and unparalleled functionality, the EasyPlan Omnia upgrade takes this one step further and underlines Hutchinsons’ focus on innovation and excellence and unwavering commitment and vision”.
Field Diary module
The Field Diary has been developed into a fully comprehensive farm management system with which growers can digitally plan and record all live field operations. Multiple plans can be combined into a single task which can be logged in a specific area for operators to access. As with previous Omnia functionality, it is compatible with the most popular machines and platforms, and it can be accessed online from any device. And for those that want to run a paper-based system, this is still possible. These field records are then automatically shown within the existing Production module, to allow complete gross margin analysis.
Stock management
This feature has received the addition of real-time stock management and provides a real-time stock management system for keeping track of orders and physical inventory based on what is actually being used.
Spray Plan module
This is a completely new module that allows users to create spray plans that are then audited by Hutchinsons bespoke HALO crop protection database. Users now have the ability to write their own spray recommendations. The new HALO database on which the Spray Plan module is based uses the industry standard regulatory data as its core, which is checked and enhanced daily by Hutchinsons in-house technical experts to ensure regulatory compliance.
The Omnia Scout app will be upgraded this summer to bring some of this new functionality into farmers’ pockets. The update will allow operators to view and complete tasks in the field, along with providing an interactive tank mix tool for spray plans to help operators with product and water requirements. The Omnia Scout app is available for both Android and iOS devices.
Data security key to upgrade
Omnia with the EasyPlan upgrade will be available within the current Field Manager and Business Manager subscription levels, with Business Manager being required for the HALO auditing functionality.
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