Harvest is the single largest expense on your farm. Labor accounts for 40 to 60 percent of total crop production costs, depending on your crop and region. When that kind of money is riding on every bucket, every bin, and every bushel, you need a clear line of sight into what each picker is doing and what it costs.

May is the pre-harvest planning window. Your seasonal workforce hasn't arrived yet. Your field map still has time to be corrected. This is precisely the moment to set up your piece-rate structure in Croptracker, so when the first crew shows up with a full bucket, you already know who picked it, what block it came from, and exactly how much it cost.

Croptracker connects individual picker performance to inventory traceability to profitability — in one platform, on one mobile app, from field to office.

Specialty crop growers are in the midst of a long transition period, moving from a historic reliance on synthetic agrochemicals, towards more dynamic approaches like Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Orchardists and apple growers in particular have been at the forefront of this shift, being some of the first to adopt biological treatments like pheromone sprays.

In the apple industry, the move towards biologicals is not just a response to environmental advocacy, but is a calculated adaptation due to an evolving regulatory landscape; a growing consumer demand for “residue free”produce; and increasing agrochemical and fertilizer costs. When used well, IPM strategies, including biological treatments, can help growers reduce traditional treatment costs and increase yield and quality.

This article will detail the types of biologicals most commonly used in apple orchards, the regulations covering their use in Canada, and how Croptracker can help growers make the most of their biological applications.

For most fresh produce growers right now, the pressure to protect already slim profit margins is high. In apples in particular, overproduction and staggering labour costs mean that no path to revenue protection can be ignored. One of the avenues our growers are increasingly headed down to help secure their profit is closer picker quality management.

With the risks of improperly handled harvest so high, the time spent training, monitoring and correcting picker performance is worth it. In this use case article, we will detail the why and how of defect monitoring at harvest for better post harvest management, higher pack-out rates and ultimately more return to the grower.

Schriemer Family Farm at a glance

Location: Otterburne, Manitoba, Canada
Acres: ~300 acres
Main Crops: Onions, Pumpkins, Squash, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers
Croptracker Modules Order Desk, Packing, Receiving, Storage, Shipping, Harvest, Field Pack, Spray, and GAP Reports and Audits

About Schriemer Family Farm:
Founded in 1999, Schriemer Family Farm is a vertically integrated operation dedicated to growing choice vegetables while maintaining excellent relationships with customers. By combining field and greenhouse growing, they provide a diverse product range to major retailers and local shops year-round.

Challenge:
Managing a broad product range and custom-pack capabilities created a significant operational complexity, resulting in 16-hour administrative days. The farm struggled with a crushing workload of manual communication, fragile spreadsheets for orders, and the high risk of expensive errors when shipping mixed-customer orders.

Solution:
Schriemer Family Farm implemented an integrated digital workflow using Croptracker's Order Desk and logistics modules. This system provides digital validation for order fulfillment, replaces manual spreadsheets with a "source of truth" for inventory, and allows for seamless English-to-Spanish communication between the office and the shipping team.

Schriemer Family Farm, located in Otterburne, Manitoba, is a multi-generational, vertically integrated operation. They grow a diverse offering of fresh vegetables, including field-grown onions, pumpkins, squash, and sweet corn, alongside greenhouse-grown tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet and hot peppers. Supplying major retailers and local co-op shops, their own pack house, storage, and logistics infrastructure also allows them to pack and ship for smaller local growers.