Da trascurata a pronta per il futuro: Zest Macadamias
Zest Macadamias con Fiona Grigg & Richard Cobcroft
It started with a curiosity for farming and a keen interest to learn something new in the second half of their careers. Experienced entrepreneurs Fiona Grigg and Richard Cobcroft built a successful healthcare business together before considering a new venture in farming. In 2019, they took a leap into the unknown territory of macadamia nut farming and purchased their 35 acre farm in the Northern Rivers area, not far from Alstonville, NSW. It was ‘a little run-down’ in their words, but together they saw it as an opportunity to continue learning and spending time outdoors; two important factors for staying healthy and happy.
La Curva di Apprendimento: Sfide e Crescita
“The learning curve has been incredible”
Fiona Grigg
The farm, known as Zest Macadamia, is today an efficiently run operation with Fiona and Richard managing the daily operations as a lean team of two. “The learning curve has been incredibleriflette Fiona mentre considera quanto lontano sono arrivati. L’azienda agricola si trova in un’area difficile, poiché è circondata da un ambiente naturale sensibile e da una popolazione in crescita proveniente da città vicine come Byron Bay. Questo genera una forte preoccupazione locale riguardo ai processi chimici utilizzati dalle aziende.
“We were naive about the legal and compliance piece of farming coming into this business,” said Fiona. As experienced business owners, they organised the data for their farming operation into 3 spreadsheets:
- Applicazione di fertilizzanti
- Applicazioni chimiche e inventari chimici.
- Dati sui raccolti
Ma i fogli di calcolo possono crescere rapidamente e richiedere una manutenzione costante per rimanere aggiornati e continuare ad essere utili; il tempo perso in ufficio a inserire dati può facilmente diventare una fonte di frustrazione. Desiderosi di trovare una soluzione alle ore perse, i due hanno chiesto aiuto al loro referente per i coltivatori presso Marquis Macadamia, Matt Weinert.
"Matt ha suggerito alcuni programmi diversi e noi li abbiamo testati. È diventato chiaro che Farmable era una soluzione sviluppata specificamente per le colture arboree."
Fiona Grigg
In 2021, Fiona and Richard adopted Farmable per semplificare le loro operazioni agricole. La soluzione freemium ha permesso loro di pianificare, delegare e tracciare in modo efficiente le attività quotidiane dell’azienda.
“I can think about jobs to be done and get them scheduled right away for the future,” explains Fiona. In the most recent growing season, they began to see the benefits of the Farmable Pro features and elected to try out the paid solution launched by Farmable for 159 AUD/year, which allows them to:
- Ricevere automaticamente avvisi intelligenti sul loro mobile per le periodi di attesa e gli intervalli di reingresso
- Visualizzare facilmente i limiti di applicazione dei prodotti quando si creano nuovi lavori di spruzzatura
With the paid platform, Fiona and Richard can export data on any fertiliser, spray or harvest job easily to an audit-ready PDF report or spreadsheet. This means the need to maintain their own spreadsheets can come to an end, and they can feel prepared for a compliance audit at any time.
Comunicazione Facile e conformità
Conversations with auditors or concerned local groups about weather conditions during spray activities on the farm have also become easier for two reasons. First, Fiona and Richard invested in a Davis weather station for their farm, giving them access to highly accurate weather data for Zest Macadamia’s location. Secondly, Farmable Pro integrates with Davis weather stations, meaning the weather station data is available directly in the Farmable App and is conveniently located alongside the job planning and active job workflows. Better weather data at their fingertips allows the pair to consider the best possible timing to spray, which is a complex enough decision when you account for the crops’ needs and the natural environment surrounding the farm.
"Non c'è dubbio su quali fossero le condizioni meteorologiche al momento delle nostre attività di spruzzatura, perché possiamo vederle nell'app mentre spruzziamo e nei nostri registri di lavoro completati."
Oggi, rimane ancora uno dei tre fogli di calcolo originali sull’computer dell’ufficio di Zest Macadamia, e include i livelli di inventario dei prodotti della fattoria. Tuttavia, non sarà così a lungo, poiché il team di Farmable ha recentemente lanciato una versione beta del loro prossimo. Product Inventory Management module.
Fiona e Richard sono ora ambasciatori locali per Farmable e tra i primi a testare l’ultima versione del software. Dedicano anche il loro tempo a condividere le loro conoscenze sulla gestione dei dati con altri coltivatori nelle Northern Rivers.
"Volevamo condividere ciò che ha funzionato per noi e, si spera, restituire e aiutare gli altri a rendere l'agricoltura un po' più facile."
Clearly, ahead of the game, it’s no surprise that these two experienced business veterans are on track to building a successful farming operation in less than a handful of growing seasons. Their early decision to have well-organised data, even in spreadsheets, has given them a foundation for being able to transition to a digital data management process with relative ease. Beyond the time savings on office work and improved decision-making in the field, using a tool like Farmable simplifies daily operations at Zest Macadamia. Fiona shares; “We don’t run any other system, and I don’t even keep my book anymore,” that’s the ultimate goal for the team at Farmable. Support farmers with their digital transformation. Less notebooks, less office work. More prepared farms for the future.
Whether you use Farmable software or another digital tool, we are happy to see digital progress in the horticulture industry. Curious about how to think about data management on your farm?
Check out our series on: