This blog post is based on the 20th Practice Abstract from the second batch of Farmtopia Practice Abstracts.
Carrot producers are facing a combination of challenges: rising production costs, water scarcity, climate variability and increasing demands for sustainable and traceable agricultural production.
For many small and medium-sized farms, however, monitoring crop conditions, optimising irrigation and fertilisation, and keeping the records needed for compliance and certification can be difficult without simple and affordable digital tools.
As part of Farmtopia SIP6, Agricolus and SATA developed and validated a digital solution specifically adapted to carrot production, based on the Agricolus Farm Management Information System (FMIS).
One digital system for the whole production cycle
Agricolus brings together several types of information to support farmers in their daily operations and longer-term planning.
The platform combines:
- Field mapping
- Satellite imagery
- Weather data
- IoT sensors
- Predictive models
- Digital records of field operations
Farmers can use the system throughout the production cycle, from digitising their farm and registering crops to monitoring crop and environmental conditions, recording operations and evaluating agronomic, economic and environmental performance.
The platform also supports crop health monitoring, irrigation management, disease risk assessment, fertilisation planning, traceability, cost analysis and sustainability reporting.
Through dashboards and reporting tools, the aim is to help farmers make management decisions based on available farm data rather than assumptions.
Tailored to carrot production
Within SIP6, Agricolus and SATA co-developed crop-specific models for carrot phenology, irrigation and fertilisation.
The phenology and irrigation models achieved a high level of reliability and were successfully validated under real farming conditions.
The fertilisation model is continuing to be refined through the collection and analysis of additional field data before final validation and release under real farming conditions.
The system was designed with the needs of smaller farms in mind. Instead of requiring farmers to invest in physical weather stations, it uses virtual weather stations. It also follows a freemium pricing model, helping reduce the initial barriers to adopting digital farm-management tools.
What were the results?
The adoption of the platform resulted in a more than 22% reduction in fertiliser use and a more than 29% reduction in irrigation volumes compared with the farms’ usual practices.
At the same time, crop yield and product quality were maintained and slightly increased.
Participating farmers successfully used all 12 digital tools available through the platform, including satellite monitoring, task management, irrigation and fertilisation decision-support systems and weather forecasting services.
The solution has reached TRL 8, demonstrating its effectiveness in operational farming environments.
Farmer surveys also indicated high levels of satisfaction, acceptance and trust in the technology.
More than saving water and fertiliser
The benefits of the system extend beyond input reduction.
Digital farm management can help farmers:
- Reduce costs associated with water and fertiliser use
- Plan and manage farming operations more effectively
- Monitor crops continuously using satellite observations
- Improve traceability and farm data management
- Strengthen environmental sustainability
- Prepare for future certification schemes and market requirements
- Improve resilience to climate variability and extreme weather events
By bringing these functions together, the platform can provide farmers with a clearer overview of both their crops and their farm operations.
Starting small and building up: Farmers do not need to adopt every digital function at once.
A practical approach is to start with the basic features that address immediate needs and gradually introduce more advanced services as they become useful.
Regularly recording field operations is important, as is consistent use of monitoring and decision-support functions. As more farm-specific data become available, predictive models can improve their performance and provide increasingly relevant information.
The use of satellite data and virtual weather stations also means that farmers can access precision-farming capabilities without making significant investments in physical hardware.
Making carrot production more data-driven: The experience from Farmtopia SIP6 demonstrates how an FMIS can be adapted to the specific requirements of a crop and the practical realities of small and medium-sized farms.
For carrot producers, combining crop monitoring, weather information, irrigation and fertilisation decision support, record keeping and performance analysis in one system can help make day-to-day management more efficient while supporting more sustainable use of resources.
About this Practice Abstract
This blog post was created from Practice Abstract 20: “Farm Management Information System (FMIS) in Carrot Production (SIP6)”, part of the second batch of Farmtopia Practice Abstracts.
Publisher: Agricolus srl
Author: Camilla Bizzarri
Contact: c.bizzarri@agricolus.com