Agricultural Magazine Summer/Autumn 2013
Product Launch: Introducing the Next Generation of Crop Recording Technology Our NEW Greenlight Grower Management software makes field recording and data sharing quick, simple and efficient
Global Agri-Business Trends Professor David Hughes discusses the implications for small holder farmers in Africa
Food & Environment Protection Dr. Miles Thomas, Head of Knowledge Management at FERA talks about developing crop protection solutions for minor crops
WELCOME TO THE SUMMER 2013 EDITION OF THE MUDDY BOOTS AG-MAG
Dear Readers It’s been a tough start to the year for the food and farming industry, with poor weather conditions and rocketing costs in 2012 setting us up for a challenging season, and the ongoing horsemeat scandal which once again throws the spotlight on the need for improved supply chain transparency and more stringent compliance processes...always difficult for any business. It’s investment in technology that will start to transform the way businesses manage and maintain their crop records in order to ensure compliance to both regional and customer protocols. Our new Greenlight Grower Managment software and mobile app is an online crop management system that connects the agri-food community together, making field recording and data sharing quick, simple and efficient. It really is a smarter way of working and we’re so excited about the opportunity this system offers our customers. Learn more this and other emerging technologies in our industry on pages 5-6. Professor David Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing, takes a look at farming practices across the globe on pages 7-8. In his article he discusses how extra regional markets will continue to offer good prospects for African farmers, but only if certain conditions are met. We end this issue with an article from Dr. Miles Thomas, head of Knowledge Management at FERA. On pages 9-10 Miles talks about the introduction of the Food and Environment Protection Act in 1985 and the implications this has had on the control of pesticides. As always, if you have any questions for a member of the Farm Services team or if you would like any information about our software solutions, please do not hesitate to contact us on the details below. Best wishes Jeff
+44 (0)1989 780 540 jeff.goulding@muddyboots.com Join in the conversation @MuddyBootsLtd.
Jeff Goulding Farm Services Director Muddy Boots Software
CONTENTS
Page 3: Read about the latest product and team updates from Muddy Boots, plus meet our new Farm Services Account Manager.
Page 4: Fresh Thinking! Find out which events Muddy Boots will be attending this year and pick-up a CropWalker Top Tip!
Page 5,6: Product Launch! Introducing Greenlight Grower Management, the smarter way of managing and maintaining your crop records on or off-line.
Page 7,8: Professor David Hughes talks about the global agri-business trends and the implications for small holders in Africa.
Page 9,10: Developing crop protection solutions for minor crops. An article from Dr. Miles Thomas, Head of Knowledge Management at FERA.
WHAT’S NEW? We announced during the last edition of the Muddy Boots Ag-Mag that we would be offering a new webinar training service to our customers, managed by our Farm Services Trainer, Rebecca Bradley. These sessions have been a huge success and we’re hoping to increase the number of webinars we offer and the content covered very soon! For more information please contact Becca on technicalservices@muddyboots.com.
The Muddy Boots team continues to grow!
A popular webinar focused on the CropWalker Mapping system, which is an integration between our CropWalker software and Patchwork’s WebTrack3. We’re pleased to announce that this is now live and available to our CropWalker customers. If you have any questions regarding CropWalker Mapping, or if you would like to receive a recording of the webinar please contact Becca on the details above. The updating of the CropWalker Help area has begun! We are hoping to make these updated guides available to all users very soon. In the meantime there are a number of PDF user guides available on the web-site. With all of these key developments and the exciting launch of Greenlight Grower Management, our Farm Services team has grown to better serve your needs. Julian Knight, who has been the Farm Services Account Manager for eight years, has moved into a new Business Analyst role so he can focus his time on this important function. This left a space for us to ‘recruit’ a new Farm Services Account Manager, and who better to fill that role than Richard Esson, who has been working at Muddy Boots as a Technical Support Consultant for a year? His in-depth knowledge and understanding of the software and our customer requirements, has ensured all account management enquiries are actioned quickly.
Meet The Team Member... Name: Richard Esson Job Title: Account Manager What's your background? I studied Business information Technology at the University of Gloucestershire for 3 years. After Completing my degree I joined Muddy Boots Software as a Customer support advisor, supporting a number of our products. 12 months later I became the Account Manager. Explain your job: My role at Muddy Boots is to sell and provide a range of software products and services to new and existing customers, and develop relationships within the farming and food industry. I also work with customers to understand their requirements, so we can make continual improvements to our software to meet their needs.
What do you enjoy most about your job? I enjoy working with numerous teams at Muddy Boots and speaking to our customers, to provide suitable and sustainable software solutions to make jobs easier and simpler. What has been your biggest achievement so far? My biggest achievement is my career progression within Muddy Boots. From supporting and assisting customers who have purchased our products, to managing customer accounts and selling software to new clients. If you could be anything in the world, what would you be? Software applications have the ability to revolutionise the way we work, throughout every industry worldwide. It would be brilliant to have the opportunity to assist in the running of a business, to drive product innovation to help produce sustainable and quality software solutions for consumers.
FRESH THINKING WORD ON THE
Dates for your Diary
WEET
To Meet Muddy Boots
@AntTheFarmer Opens up so many opportunities. Should mean I spend less time in the office too! #GreenlightGrowerManagement @Unilever Unilever saves €70m by cutting waste to landfill
PMA Fresh Connections Event 11 – 13 June 2013 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, New South Wales, Australia
@FoodManufacture Appointment of #grocerycodeadjudicator is important step in ensuring fairness across the #supplychain #NFU
@M
udd
Cereals Event 12 – 13 June 2013 Boothby Graffoe, Lincoln, UK Croptec 30 - 31 October 2013 East of England Showground, Peterborough
yBo
otsL td
LAMMA Event 22 - 23 January 2014 East of England Showground, Peterborough
DID YOU KNOW...? CropWalker Top Tip! Use the ‘Show Previous’ button to look back at previous recommendations when making both agchem and fertiliser plans. It can be found in the top right-hand corner of the respective screens.
Less than 1 in 5 consumers trust food companies to provide them with safe food.
Fruit prices have risen by 34% since June 2007, rising steadily each year.
INTRODUCING A SMARTER WAY OF WORKING GREENLIGHT GROWER MANAGEMENT We are delighted to announce the launch of Greenlight Grower Management, an online crop management system that connects the agri-food community together, making field recording and data sharing quick, simple and efficient.
The internet is changing the way we run our lives, from booking doctor’s appointments to our family holiday; checking our banking activity to the latest weather forecast. And now managing our field and crop records. Recording day-to-day farm activity and managing compliance records that are critical to your business is time consuming, but things are changing and Muddy Boots is excited to be at the forefront of these developments. By harnessing internet based solutions your live data is accessible anywhere and you can securely record, share and store your cropping data on the ‘cloud’. You could ask why install a PC-based program and stress about system updates and back-ups when a cloud-based system provides a worry-free, easy to use solution often at lower cost?
CONNECT WITH YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN
Food Processor & Retailer
Agronomist
Contractor
GREENLIGHT NETWORK
Farmer
Distributor
Collaboration is key to this next generation of crop management systems. No longer are the various stakeholders working independently of one another. Agronomists, farmers and their operators can access, record and share field activity simply over the web and using a mobile offline App. The automatic, wireless syncing of data and notifications of changes gives users immediate access to important crop information, so there’s no delay in making time-critical decisions.
Watch our Greenlight Grower Management animation here! www.muddyboots.com/on-the-farm
THE NEXT GENERATION OF CROP MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
A few taps of the finger, a couple of swipes and a multifield and product ag-chem plan is created and submitted…simple and quick. The taking of images to support a crop inspection, auto-embedding into a report and sending it straight to the farmer whilst in the field really brings this software to life and keeps everyone up to speed with the changing crop conditions and impending issues. But it’s not just the benefits at field level that make Greenlight Grower Management stand out. The operational information collected provides an excellent opportunity to engage with organisations higher up in the supply chain. This not only provides the transparency they demand of the source of their products but crucially strengthens the relationship and trust between the grower and the end customer. This collaborative way of working will transform the way our customers collect and use their field records. Many of you will already be familiar with our CropWalker software, which is widely established within the farming industry. Subsequently integration and automatic synchronisation between CropWalker and Greenlight Grower Management was a prerequisite of the design. Now, users of both technologies can share their data between the two systems, so cropping information is held in one centralised location. Simple!
The era of mobile computing is truly coming of age, and the increasing use of the internet, smart phones and tablet PC’s will undoubtedly impact how the simple but important task of crop management is undertaken. You could argue that it even starts to be fun!
Mobile App
For more information on Greenlight Grower Management, please contact Jeff Goulding or Richard Esson on+44 (0)1989 780540 or e-mail sales@muddyboots.com.
GLOBAL AGRI-BUSINESS TRENDS PROFESSOR DAVID HUGHES: IMPLICATIONS FOR SMALL HOLDERS IN AFRICA
Africa’s food imports are increasing and food selfsufficiency is declining. This should create substantial local and regional marketing opportunities for African farmers and this will include smallholders, but only if certain conditions are met.
Accelerated urbanisation suits supermarket companies. Walmart’s arrival in South Africa with its purchase of Massmart is a statement of intent to expand rapidly across the sub-Sahara region. It will experience competition from regional mass retailers who have indepth knowledge of the purchasing preferences of local shoppers. This is good news for consumers who should see keener grocery prices but will be tough for duka (small store) owners who will lobby government to keep the big global retailers out (as has been attempted in India).
Over the next 40 years, the global population will increase by 2 billion but that will not be evenly spread – Africa will double from 1 billion to 2 billion people and the jury is out on whether this will offer an exceptional food marketing opportunity for African farmers or translate into massive social problems in the overgrown cities and rural areas abandoned by younger But rapid population growth and urbanisation in Africa adults. will place enormous strain on food security across the continent. Africa’s food imports are increasing and Cities in Africa will mushroom in size and the hope is food self-sufficiency is declining. Clearly, this should that the burgeoning urban populace will have paid create substantial local and regional marketing employment and plenty of it. If not, shanty town social opportunities for African farmers and this will include unrest will inevitably result which could be exacerbated smallholders but only if certain conditions are met: if, as pundits and indeed FAO predict, global food prices roads, transport and post-harvest infrastructure are will be both increasingly volatile and higher in the improved; regional trade agreements within Africa are future. forged and trade between African countries is encouraged not constrained (it’s easier to ship produce to Europe or the Gulf than it is to move it within the continent or, indeed, the next door country); slowly and painfully, the structure of farming and wholesaling will rationalise as in all other parts of the globe, with or without government facilitation.
“EXTRA-REGIONAL MARKETS WILL CONTINUE TO OFFER GOOD PROSPECTS FOR AFRICAN FARMERS.”
Supermarkets will accelerate the transformation of supply chains for, in particular, fresh food as they seek greater quantities of consistent quality produce. Can smallholder farmers survive in a modern food marketing era? Some will, some won’t. Those heading for the cities will be pleased to leave the land. Smallholders remaining will expand but will require help in terms of access to credit, technology and so on. They must work together and with modern wholesalers to meet big buyer requirements.
elsewhere. Worrisomely, not is all well on these farms – incomes are low and unstable reflecting poor on-farm productivity, volatile prices and inefficient supply chains; and farmers are ageing and their children seek jobs in town not on the land. But, there is a silver lining – major companies such as Nestlé, Unilever, Mars, Kraft and Barry Callebaut recognise that continuing poor productivity at the farm level presents a clear threat to the long-term sustainability of their own big branded businesses.
Smallholder farmers are disadvantaged but not doomed and will find opportunities where they can maximise their intrinsic advantages, such as use of family labour, attention to detail on finicky crops, and close proximity to markets as towns and cities expand rapidly.
These global companies share common commercial interest with small-scale farmers in working together to improve quality, quantity and farm level prices to ensure that the raw materials for mega-brands such as Mars bars, Magnum ice cream, Kit-Kat and Cadbury’s and Milka chocolate are available in years to come. Traditional markets have decades of life in them and will Global food and beverage companies forging closer continue to offer wholesale and retail market partnerships with small-scale African farmers may seem opportunities for the smaller producer. Within Africa, most unlikely but, in fact, it is the emerging model for the processed food industry will grow quickly and prove the coming decades. a reliable market outlet for large- and small-scale producers. Fresh fruit and vegetables destined for developed countries and, increasingly, the fast-growing middle classes of emerging countries will be most likely captured by larger-scale farming enterprises with opportunities for “outgrowers” supplementing nucleus estate production. But tea, coffee and cocoa (the principal raw ingredient for chocolate) are grown largely on smallholder farms across Africa and
Professor David Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing profdavidhughes@aol.com +44 (0) 7798558276 http://www.profdavidhughes.com/
FOOD & ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION DEVELOPING CROP PROTECTION SOLUTIONS FOR MINOR CROPS
Dr. Miles Thomas, Head of Knowledge Management at The Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), talks about the introduction of the Food and Environment Protection Act in 1985.
Prior to 1985, UK growers in the horticultural sector could apply any pesticide product to a crop with the understanding that applications to any crop not mentioned on the label were undertaken at the grower’s own risk. Following the introduction of the Food and Environment Protection Act in 1985, control of pesticides changed such that only those applications to crops listed on the label, and therefore approved by the Registration Authority, could be undertaken. These changes significantly reduced the range and availability of crop protection products within the horticultural sector as manufacturers were not prepared to undertake the costly trials and approvals processes to add minor crops to their labels. To increase the range of products available, the Registration Authority introduced a system of specific off-label approvals (SOLAs), whereby, following submission of an appropriate data package, individuals or organisations could request a SOLA for specific product and crop combinations. All such uses are to be undertaken at their own risk outside the pesticide manufacturer’s liability.
Since its introduction, over 6,700 SOLAs, or Extensions of Authorisation for Minor Use (EAMUs) as they are now referred to, have been issued, mostly funded by the Horticultural Development Company. Whilst significantly improving the availability of products to the horticultural sector, there is still a significant imbalance between the range available for major arable crops like wheat and crops in the horticultural sector. For example, excluding the total herbicides diquat, glufosinate-ammonium and glyphosate, there are currently over 1,300 pesticide products approved on-label for use on wheat in the UK, comprising some 220 different active substances or combinations of active substances within a product. In stark comparison, outdoor lettuce growers have on-label approval for the use of 266 products comprising 23 unique active substances or mixtures.
The EAMU programme provides them with a further 35 products but more significantly adds an extra 22 active substances or mixtures to their arsenal, indispensable when application programmes have to consider the development of resistance or poor control, where a range of alternative chemistry is essential. A more minor crop, like celeriac, currently has on-label approval for use on 125 products containing 11 active substances or mixtures, with the EAMU programme supplying a further 28 products and 12 new active substances or mixtures, more than doubling the range of chemistry available to growers. In all cases, the number of products actually available is often greater as parallel trade arrangements allow identical products authorised for placing on the market and use in the country from which they are purchased to be used under the same EAMU. This does not, however, increase the range of chemistry available. One element slowing the approval process down is the establishment of maximum residue levels (MRLs) for new uses on minor crops. In the absence of an established Authorisation request at registration across Europe, active substance/crop combinations are usually set to a default MRL at the limit of detection, which frequently precludes use if a detectable residue may be expected through
application under good agricultural practice (GAP). Setting MRLs that allow use has therefore to be done at the EU level following assessment of a relevant residues data package by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCFCAH). Requests for new EAMUs are often generated by grower associations or one or more of the eight sector panels of the HDC, who collate and prioritise grower requirements for new plant protection options, so they are directly applicable to the main issues concerning the horticultural industry at that time. Funding for their development, which may include generation of relevant residues data, comes from a statutory levy on the horticultural industry. HDC also fund work to identify alternative solutions to conventional crop protection products, such as biopesticides (which frequently do not require residues data and MRL amendment), prediction models and cultural techniques.
...your partner for good
Muddy Boots Software Ltd t: +44 (0)1989 780540 e: sales@muddyboots.com @MuddyBootsLtd Contact details for our worldwide offices can be found at w ww.m udd yboots.com