The ultimate goal of using any record keeping system is to keep track of costs and help make better management decisions. Farming should be no different. Many farmers feel that accurate record keeping is burdensome, time consuming and is often only done to tick a box.
But record keeping is the key to good farm management and you can’t manage if you don’t measure. The trick is to find a system that makes this task as seamless as possible and advances in record keeping programs have done just that.
The UK-based farm management software Gatekeeper has, for many tillage farmers, been the mainstay crop recording tool in Ireland for years. While the program has evolved over the past 13 years, the principles have remained the same, providing a platform for digitalising crop records and improving the ease of analysing these records.
Farmplan's Gatekeeper farm management software is now cloud based.
Until now, Gatekeeper has been a desktop program, with an extensive number of add-ons which appealed to the larger farmer with multiple tillage businesses.
However, earlier this year the next generation of Gatekeeper farm management software was launched in Ireland, which aims to bring cloud-based crop record keeping into our tillage fields, regardless of size or tillage enterprise.
Farmplan's Gatekeeper farm management software is now cloud based.
Cloud based recording
The big advantage of this new generation of Gatekeeper software is that it is entirely cloud based, meaning that all crop recording and analysis can be done from any computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet using a web connection. With previous programs, smartphone functionality was available, but the software was still centrally based on a computer or laptop.
There are three versions of the new software available, Gatekeeper Cloud Standard, Gatekeeper Cloud Advanced and Gatekeeper Cloud Premium.
Gatekeeper Cloud Standard is an entry level crop recording solution, offering field mapping, crop product and activity logging, job recording and report generation to satisfy basic compliance, cropping and applications records, field gross margin calculations and a number of other details.
Gatekeeper has access to the up-to-date PCS data base and is updated regularly. There are also options within the program for product verification, which checks max application rates. Users can also import recommendations from the Gatekeeper Agronomist program.
Gatekeeper Cloud Advanced is the next level up and offers all of the above, but it also includes stock options for cost and value management, as well as reports for crop and variety gross margins, growing evaluations and stock reports.
Gatekeeper Cloud Premium has just been released and allows for multiple farm businesses, as well as additional reporting capabilities. This version will also likely see more mapping and precision farming functionality, as well as advanced job management features. Crucially, for users of previous desktop Gatekeeper programs, historical data from these programs can be transferred to the new cloud-based solution.
Farmplan
Farmplan’s Gatekeeper was introduced in 2006 and followed two other generations of farm management software. For readers who are not aware, Farmplan is a UK supplier of IT solutions specifically designed for agricultural industry and is part of the Proagrica group. The business has over 8,000 customers and manages 2.3m ha and 1m cattle in the UK and Ireland.
Digitalising farm records
Every decision you take on your farm has a financial ramification and you need to be able to track this. Farm owners and managers can no longer rely solely on a paper trail and need a complete and accurate farm record system in order to make informed management decisions.
Record keeping can be a chore for many farmers.
Digital farm management packages such as Gatekeeper provide the power to analyse income and expenditure between crops, harvest years and farms where appropriate, to help determine what the efficiencies and inefficiencies are in your farm business. It’s likely that we will see further digitalisation of our farm business world, in line with other industries, so it’s important not to fall behind where technology is leading us.
However, this does raise some questions, particularly the question of data protection.
Data protection
Farmers are right to ask about the protection of their data, particularly when information pertaining to costs of production are involved. Farmers need to be sure that when they use any program, their data is secure and won’t be seen or used by a third party without their consent.
When meeting Ben Hatton of Farmplan last month, I put this question to him. He explains that Farmplan is part of the RELX group, a provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries, including agriculture, aviation, banking and finance.
The group serves customers in more than 180 countries, offices in over 40. Hatton explains that operating at this level ensures that their commitment and obligation to data protection is paramount. Furthermore, as they are independent of agricultural distribution, manufacturing and advice, this ensures that they are a trusted provider of IT solutions for farms, he claims .
Pricing
Pricing starts at €340 and are banded by farmed area and functionality. For example, growers who farm between 0-250ha will pay less than those farming larger areas. This ‘banding’ of price has been an important development in the accessibility of the Gatekeeper program, as smaller farmers previously couldn’t justify the investment in the full desktop package.
Read more
Listen: progress made in the fields but still a lot to do
Watch: 10kg bag of potatoes sells for €1,050 at auction
The ultimate goal of using any record keeping system is to keep track of costs and help make better management decisions. Farming should be no different. Many farmers feel that accurate record keeping is burdensome, time consuming and is often only done to tick a box.
But record keeping is the key to good farm management and you can’t manage if you don’t measure. The trick is to find a system that makes this task as seamless as possible and advances in record keeping programs have done just that.
The UK-based farm management software Gatekeeper has, for many tillage farmers, been the mainstay crop recording tool in Ireland for years. While the program has evolved over the past 13 years, the principles have remained the same, providing a platform for digitalising crop records and improving the ease of analysing these records.
Farmplan's Gatekeeper farm management software is now cloud based.
Until now, Gatekeeper has been a desktop program, with an extensive number of add-ons which appealed to the larger farmer with multiple tillage businesses.
However, earlier this year the next generation of Gatekeeper farm management software was launched in Ireland, which aims to bring cloud-based crop record keeping into our tillage fields, regardless of size or tillage enterprise.
Farmplan's Gatekeeper farm management software is now cloud based.
Cloud based recording
The big advantage of this new generation of Gatekeeper software is that it is entirely cloud based, meaning that all crop recording and analysis can be done from any computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet using a web connection. With previous programs, smartphone functionality was available, but the software was still centrally based on a computer or laptop.
There are three versions of the new software available, Gatekeeper Cloud Standard, Gatekeeper Cloud Advanced and Gatekeeper Cloud Premium.
Gatekeeper Cloud Standard is an entry level crop recording solution, offering field mapping, crop product and activity logging, job recording and report generation to satisfy basic compliance, cropping and applications records, field gross margin calculations and a number of other details.
Gatekeeper has access to the up-to-date PCS data base and is updated regularly. There are also options within the program for product verification, which checks max application rates. Users can also import recommendations from the Gatekeeper Agronomist program.
Gatekeeper Cloud Advanced is the next level up and offers all of the above, but it also includes stock options for cost and value management, as well as reports for crop and variety gross margins, growing evaluations and stock reports.
Gatekeeper Cloud Premium has just been released and allows for multiple farm businesses, as well as additional reporting capabilities. This version will also likely see more mapping and precision farming functionality, as well as advanced job management features. Crucially, for users of previous desktop Gatekeeper programs, historical data from these programs can be transferred to the new cloud-based solution.
Farmplan
Farmplan’s Gatekeeper was introduced in 2006 and followed two other generations of farm management software. For readers who are not aware, Farmplan is a UK supplier of IT solutions specifically designed for agricultural industry and is part of the Proagrica group. The business has over 8,000 customers and manages 2.3m ha and 1m cattle in the UK and Ireland.
Digitalising farm records
Every decision you take on your farm has a financial ramification and you need to be able to track this. Farm owners and managers can no longer rely solely on a paper trail and need a complete and accurate farm record system in order to make informed management decisions.
Record keeping can be a chore for many farmers.
Digital farm management packages such as Gatekeeper provide the power to analyse income and expenditure between crops, harvest years and farms where appropriate, to help determine what the efficiencies and inefficiencies are in your farm business. It’s likely that we will see further digitalisation of our farm business world, in line with other industries, so it’s important not to fall behind where technology is leading us.
However, this does raise some questions, particularly the question of data protection.
Data protection
Farmers are right to ask about the protection of their data, particularly when information pertaining to costs of production are involved. Farmers need to be sure that when they use any program, their data is secure and won’t be seen or used by a third party without their consent.
When meeting Ben Hatton of Farmplan last month, I put this question to him. He explains that Farmplan is part of the RELX group, a provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries, including agriculture, aviation, banking and finance.
The group serves customers in more than 180 countries, offices in over 40. Hatton explains that operating at this level ensures that their commitment and obligation to data protection is paramount. Furthermore, as they are independent of agricultural distribution, manufacturing and advice, this ensures that they are a trusted provider of IT solutions for farms, he claims .
Pricing
Pricing starts at €340 and are banded by farmed area and functionality. For example, growers who farm between 0-250ha will pay less than those farming larger areas. This ‘banding’ of price has been an important development in the accessibility of the Gatekeeper program, as smaller farmers previously couldn’t justify the investment in the full desktop package.
Read more
Listen: progress made in the fields but still a lot to do
Watch: 10kg bag of potatoes sells for €1,050 at auction
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