News Crop protection
Digi-label next step in asset registration
CropLife NL is conducting research in the Netherlands to provide crop protection products with a digital label. The ultimate goal is to have a balanced administration between resource stock and use. The sub-project is part of a larger research project on precision agriculture and data.
The Agros II research project started this year, which will run for four years and is driven by Top Sector Agrifood. Private companies and Wageningen University are partners in this project. CropLife Europe and NL – the European and Dutch trade association for the crop protection products sector – are also participants. One of the sub-projects focuses on precision agriculture applications in crop protection.
Digitization of label
In our country, CropLife NL is conducting research into the introduction of the E-label. This is a digital label with usage instructions on every packaging containing crop protection products. The label also contains a QR code, which you can already find on packaging. By scanning it with the Agro E-label app, you as an applicator can view the usage instructions. This digitalization is not new. As early as 2021, Croplife (then Nefyto) with the so-called E-Stewardship to tracing of resources digital. The idea is that suppliers know where each product is located. This provides insight into the stock and allows rapid action to be taken in the event of a recall.
The sector hopes that with a further step in digitalization; "to play an important role in making agriculture and horticulture more sustainable", says general manager Jan Verschoor. With a digital database full of product information, the next step is possible. This is direct communication between the field sprayer and the farmer's management system. Verschoor: "This allows us to take the safe and responsible use of crop protection products to an even higher level."
Practical scenario
How does this work in practice? It is not inconceivable that in the future spraying machines will be equipped with a barcode scanner with which every package must first be scanned before it goes into the tank. An automatic link registers the product. The stock is reduced using software and the application is registered on the relevant field. Whether this will actually happen remains to be seen. The mandatory pressure registration, which has now been in force for four years, ultimately also fizzled out. Yet there was concern in the sector. This is probably no different with the next step.
There are numerous advantages for the user with a digital system. You know the stock, it reduces errors and reduces the number of administrative hours. Everyone welcomes that. But practice is often unruly. Shortening the interval by one day - because this is weather-wise more convenient - is no longer an option. In such a case, the system immediately raises a 'red flag'. Especially in years with extremely high disease pressure, such as summer 2023, every effort must be made. A system that is too closed can then be experienced as limiting.
Right or wrong
In addition, it is also a matter of principle. Farmers and sprayers may feel uncomfortable with this extensive registration. Doesn't that go very far? A computer only knows right or wrong and no gray area. It's not that far yet (by a long way). This year, CropLife is testing an initial system between E-label, spraying machine and management software at two locations. These are the Farm of the Future in Lelystad and Bayer Forward Farm in Abbenes.
Niels van der Boom
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