Harvest is one of the busiest times of your year, and not only that, it's payday! Growers like you deserve tools to manage harvest so that every detail is under control and the operation is running efficiently.
If there's a time where inefficiency and/or mistakes aren't acceptable, this is it. Our Harvest module gives you actionable insight to manage logistics in real time. Whether we're talking tracking loads, tracking yield, or getting paid, our tools will help you schedule, track and manage resources during this hectic time of year.
Manage harvest efficiently
Get things when and where they need to go
It can feel like chaos when harvest rolls around. The Harvest module of the Conservis platforms brings some calm into the chaos. You'll be able to plan and execute your harvest in the best sequence to reduce costs. You can coordinate harvest crews and equipment in real-time, so you remain flexible as conditions change. With easily-generated reports regarding harvest and load status, problems can be identified quickly and resources deployed.
Scott Burdge of Lone Star Family Farms likes the real-time updates. "During harvest I'm never at the office. I'm always in the truck, running around. You can just pull it up on the iPad and I mean, it's dummy-proof," he says. Scott is referencing the fact that the Conservis platform uses three colors to indicate what's complete, in progress and not yet started. This is overlayed on a map of your farm, so at a glance you can see what progress is being made. "It's color coordinated. 'Well, that's done, that's done, that's done.' And for me, a guy like me, I want to see all those colors changing. That means we're getting close."
Aaron Lee of Cornerstone Family Farms agrees that farm management software helps him stay on top of things during busy times. "Things move so quickly, certainly in the fall as things are coming in and going out. There are times when we're harvesting and bringing to the bin and then we're also selling and taking to the end user. Being able to stay on top of that has gone far beyond what you can keep track of in a notebook in your front pocket," he says.
Mollie Ficocello at Sproule Farms appreciates all the information in one place for everyone involved in the operation.
"Knowledge is power. By knowing every aspect of what's going on in our fields, what the yields are coming off, just really being involved and having knowledge of every aspect all year long is very powerful."
Get paid for every load
Track your crops confidently from field to delivery
Harvest isn't just a lot of work, it's when the money comes in! Unfortunately, lost and stolen loads are a reality for farmers, but one that isn't acceptable.
With our system you can monitor the delivery status of each load confidently, in real time. Loss due to mis-assigned loads, missing tickets, or theft becomes a thing of the past. Our tools allow you to view and confirm that all deliveries have been made so payment can be secured, and it's much simpler than manual reconciliation. On your mobile device, each load can be tracked by contract hauler as they leave the field.
"There are times we've missed a load of corn and we can go back and find it. We do a lot of shipping to distilleries, so there are truck drivers that take our grain that we don't know. They're all great guys, but it's just another layer of vulnerability," says Lee at Cornerstone.
“The canola is a high value crop and we lost a load and caught that, so it was worth probably $20,000. Then we had two loads of wheat that we'd lost out of 100-150 and it [Conservis] more than paid for itself," says Justin Crownover of Lone Star Family Farms.
"At the beginning, it was like an aha moment that we saved that $20,000 or $40,000. Today it's more like it's just standard operating [procedure]. The elevators know we're using it [Conservis], and so they make an extra effort to do a good job for you.”
"I would say probably over the last six years that we've used Conservis on the harvest side, it's probably saved us 30 loads of corn that went to the co-op that they didn't have any record of. It either got mistakenly linked to another farmer or another field," says Michael Kitchen at Lone Star. “We've also had a couple loads that disappeared. They went to somewhere we don't know. We were able to approach that truck driver and find out that he didn't deliver it where he said he delivered it."
(Read the Lone Star Family Farms case study.)
"Our biggest cost savings we've seen on this program is our grain inventory. When we're hauling out in the spring, summer, winter months, it really streamlines our inventory in and out," says Reno Brueggeman of Brueggeman Crop Services. "Conservis caught a mistake that saved us about $5,000 to $6,000. A lot of times you get a sheet in the elevator and it looks right, but how good are we at double-checking our errors [to see] if there was an error at the elevator? And the first year we had this software it caught one for us."
The ability to catch mistakes and potential mistakes during harvest can't be overstated. "I'm able to track in real time from when the worker goes from the field to the co-op. The program has comment boxes so when you're creating the grain tickets, you can write in comments. They can say, 'Hey, I messed up. Instead of truck 69, it should have been truck 77.' So it's very instrumental, it's been a great program for us," says Kitchen.
Improve transparency with stakeholders
Accurate yield information for land owners
There's great importance in communicating well with stakeholders involved with the farm. Harvest allows you to easily create reports that split crops by owners and entities, and you can share ownership reports at any point in the distribution process. And again, you can enjoy confidence in what happened during harvest by easily reconciling deliveries with processor receipts.
Andrew Wiens describes the growth of Wiens Farms. "As us three got involved, we picked up a boat load of landlords with the ground that we're now farming, plus our three shares of stuff," he says. "The splits are really why we got into Conservis, because it took about a day and a half and a whole notebook full of chicken scratch... Conservis has been a godsend for helping with that."
Andrew's brother, Jarrod Wiens, gives his perspective. "It [automatic inventory records] really makes everything a lot easier and smoother, and I feel a lot better about it knowing that it's probably more accurate than if I were to have a pen and paper. You can just press a button, and I can show my partners what we have left, or print out a report," he says. "It takes a little stress off your shoulders more than anything. Anytime something takes less time but it's more accurate, it's just a bonus."
(Read the Wiens Farms case study.)
Harvest also allows you to understand yield at the field level to drive marketing decisions, as well as next year's plan.
“One of the biggest things I look at is yield and how it performs overall as far as by soil type, by fields, by region and plant population," says Paul Sproule at Sproule Farms. “The platform has gotten very, very good. When we look at our yield data… what it comes down to is, what is your ROI? Are you making the right decisions, right timed decisions, and are you doing the right things?”
"Things move so quickly, certainly in the fall as things are coming in and going out. Being able to stay on top of that has gone far beyond what you can keep track of in a notebook in your front pocket."
Introducing Field Centric View
Farmers asked for it, we built it
We were a farmer-inspired company from the get-go, and we continue to make updates based on farmer feedback. We're not out to make technology for technology's sake — we're here to serve farmers with tools that are truly useful.
Our new "FIELDS" tab allows our customers to see everything regarding their fields, all accessible in a single place. With this update, growers can access their fields and field activities without having to navigate to different screens and perform multiple filtering tasks. All field-centric data, including work chronology, activity records, and as-applied maps are just a click away.
You deserve a system that helps you harvest profitably each year. Stay on top of every detail and see field activities in real time on any device. Optimize your resources by managing smarter, not harder. Catch mistakes with a record of deliveries and payments as they happen. Keep your partners informed on your farm's finances with a transparent audit trail off the field all the way through processing. Access all your field information quickly and easily with our new FIELDS tab.
In a time where there's a lot on the line, doesn't all that sound nice?
Conservis is the leading independent farm management software. What could we do for your operation?