As the world’s population surges to a forecast of 9.7 billion by 2050, farmers are facing significant challenges to meet the food needs, to control costs, and to find appropriate solutions through innovation. Farmers and food producers must be ready to embrace a sustainable and scalable solution that can take them to new heights. To improve the business performance and increase crop production more efficiently, farmers should wisely invest in the best Farm management software solutions.
For farmers, a Farm management system can give total Freedom from normal concerns.
In fact, according to BIS research, the global smart farming market is likely to touch $23 Billion by the year 2022, with Compound Annual Growth Rate of 19.3 percent from 2017 to 2022.
This growth is majorly expected to be driven by the penetration of IT (Information Technology) in farming, the growing demand for higher crop production, and the increasing need for smart farming.
“Smart farming involves efficient and automated farm management with the help of technologies to improve the quality as well as the quantity of crops.”
This article will help you understand Farm Management better and help you to choose the right Farm management software in order to efficiently access data, to gather yield information timely and to manage procurement and forecast commodity smartly.
What is Farm Management?
There are multiple definitions of farm management. But on the broader scenario, Farm Management is all about productivity and profitability. It is mainly concerned with the decisions that affect the primary objectives of a farm business.
And the common objective of most commercial farms is to increase crop production efficiently & maximize profitability.
Therefore, we’ll adopt the definition of farm management here as a decision-making process that involves allocating available production resources in such a way that attains set objectives for the farm business.
Current Situation in Farm Businesses
Traditional farm management systems provide too much false information. For example, to begin production, you should secure your budget. Then, extensive use of fertilizers, pesticides, and external energy is also needed to ensure high crop yields.
In addition, these systems also give false information like nature is the competitor, progress can only be measured by increased material consumption, and efficiency can only be measured through unending evolution of larger farms.
As a result, this false information given by traditional farm management systems ends up leaving following negative effects on overall farming business.
- Reduction in soil productivity -This can occur due to soil compaction, wind and water erosion, loss of soil organic matter, and biological activity.
- Reduced water quality –Agriculture is the single largest source of water pollutants including salts, fertilizers, manures, and pesticides. These pollutants are, in fact, widespread, which are responsible for nutrition runoff in lakes, rivers, and oceans. This, in turn, impacts agricultural production, fishery production, and drinking water supplies.
- Other environment distress–Nowadays, over 70 fungal pathogens and more than 400 insects have become resistant to one or more pesticides. As a result, there is now a reduced genetic diversity due to the reliance on most crops as well as livestock breeds.
Importance of Better Farm Management
Let’s face it. Today, farming is more than just producing crops. In fact, proper farm management is vital for a farmer, food producer or an investor to capitalize on the overall asset.
This requires investors & farmers to address production, conservation, fertility, and profitability issues to name just a few.
Overlooking even one of these key metrics can lead to a significant loss, and sometimes degradation of farmland.
Moreover, all farmlands are not equal, which is why a customized farm management plan is needed to optimize return on investment (ROI).
Tips for Better Farm Management
There are many ways of managing a farm, and in many aspects, effective farm management is equivalent to the management processes that are employed in any kind of business.
However, what set the farm management process apart from any other businesses are the types of duties, responsibilities, and different types of management layers found in the farm business operations.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of 5 tips for better farm management that are applicable to all kinds of farm, whether it’s a banana production or tomato, or macadamia farm.
1 – Invest Modestly
Even though your farm businesses might be super-successful today, but it could fall in the next couple months due to uncertain reasons. So, be modest with your money. While investing in your farm business, pick resources, products, and technologies very carefully.
Aim to choose the ones that will save your time, energy, and money. Otherwise, it will cost you even more in the long run.
2 – Monitor Precisely
Keep precise records of all your cash-flow. Make a note of where money is going; identify where it’s being wasted and where it should rather be invested. Doing so will definitely help you when tough time comes and you need to make cuts to your outgoings. And by monitoring your cash flow precisely will also help you identify the best places you can rely on and take money from when the bad times come.
3 – Be Realistic
Again, your farm business might be booming right now, but bear in mind that what goes up must come down. Therefore, be very careful while making investments, especially when expanding your farm.
Before making the final decision, ask yourself “will I be able to scale everything down when the economy goes bad or will I be just left with half of my farm deserted?”
Be realistic and plan ahead for all uncertainties.
4 – Go Small
Having long-term goals is important. But to make sure you’re moving forward in the direction of your long-term goals, you need to take small steps.
Taking small steps not only allows you to track the progress better, but you’ll also have a sense of achievement every day.
Moreover, Rome wasn’t built in a day. And you should have the same attitude towards your farming business.
5 – Ongoing Research
In today’s constantly-evolving world, it is critical to stay up to date with the latest developments.
That means, you must keep an eye on political news which could affect your rights to produce certain crops, agriculture news to learn latest techniques as well as technologies, and local news to know what’s going around your market, area, or city.
Now don’t get nervous. With Internet at fingertips and smart automated farm management solutions, you can catch up all the latest news while chilling on your sofa.
Benefits of Investing in Farm Management Software Solution
The truth is, by the year 2050, crops production will need to double to fulfill the demand for global food consumption. Not only that, but the modern farm businesses will also have to cope up with the changes in nature, soil health, and climate.
To overcome these challenges, farmers have already started shifting from traditional spreadsheets to smart farm management solutions.
In fact, these farmers already know the benefits that the modern farm management software solutions are going to bring them. The question is, do you about these benefits?
1 – Proper Planning & Tracking
A farm management software solution can provide a holistic view to farmers, which can enable them to plan more efficiently, track real-time activities, and help them in making the best decisions based on specific situations.
In other words, a farm management software solution helps farmers to make sure their farm operations are reaching their full potential.
2 – Better Risk Management
Nowadays, farmers are facing more external risks than before. Risks like unexpected climate changes, market demands, etc.
But, farm management solutions can aid farmers with features such as weather forecasting, proactive measures for pests and diseases, which can ultimately assist farmers in having better control.
In fact, modern farm management software solutions can alert farmers of any risks and recommend the best possible solutions to increase crop productions and returns.
3 – Knowledge of Best Farm Management Practices
Knowledge of best farm management practices is essential to maximize return on investment on farmland. And to be successful, farmers need to have knowledge of what the market wants and what satisfies consumers.
A good farm management solution can provide the latest information on market demands and the best practices that suggest how and when to perform certain activities such as pest treatments and fertilizers to make well-informed decisions.
4 – Accurate Personal Records
To be able to collect, process, store, and analyze farm data is essential. It helps farmers in carrying out appropriate operations of their farms.
This data can be of either farm oriented such as land preparation, fertilization, crop rotations, or they can be of business oriented such as input costs, per unit cost, product price, etc which can help farmers to make necessary adjustments to increase profitability & operate more efficiently.
5 –Environment Sustainability
Along with the above benefits, a good farm management software solution also contributes to the reduction of farming impacts on the environment.
Due to modern techniques and farm management processes, there will be decreased use of water, pesticides, fertilizers, and runoff of chemicals into rivers. All these ultimately contribute towards sustainable agriculture practices that result in conserving the environment.
A Right Farm Management Software Solution Can Make a Huge Difference!
When it comes to proper farm management, whether you have a serious farm business or just a small family farm, all the duties and responsibilities can be exhausting and time-consuming.
To manage all these farm activities efficiently, you need the right farm management software solution.
But wait! How can a farmer know which would be the right farm management software?
Well, an ideal farm management software solution should support all types of crops such as vegetables, fruits, grasses, grains, etc., all production types such as organic, integrated, conventional, etc., and also all kinds of farming activities such as seasonal stock level, machinery usage, registry of fields, etc.
Having such farm management software can aid farmers with full support for every aspect of their crop production, no matter what they may grow.
Also, tracking weather conditions and analyzing insect pest is of utmost importance. Nowadays, adverse weather conditions like frost, flood, or hail can occur unexpectedly, which is why features like weather forecasting is essential in your farm management software.
While there are different types of ready-to-use free and open source farm management software solutions available in the market, it gets a bit tricky to choose one and integrate it with your existing system. So, understanding the features, possibilities and limitations of a software is essential.
If in case you’re involved in a large farm business, then it’s always best to go for custom farm management software to fit your specific requirements.
Agsquared, Farmlogs, Farmlogic, EasyFarm, Agworld are some of the best farm management software solutions available in the market.
And Don’t Forget! – A mobile solution is equally important.
Farm Management software solutions are now-a-days available as mobile friendly software too. Mobility gives access to information right from your phone.
The reason being, it gets easier for the users to track their daily field activities, monitor their produce, procure their inventory and manage their finance easily right through the mobile friendly software.
Conclusion
All in all, a right farm management solution can help your farmers engage in tactical, strategic, and operational planning. In other words, you can equip your farmers with a tool that allows them to put all their record keeping work under a unified system. Wish to browse and understand more about automated farm management systems? Check this page which will give you detailed information about some of the top rated farm management software solution available in the market today.
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