Cart is empty AGTECHS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FARM MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Brazil is one of the main agrobusiness countries of the world, there is no denying it. In fact, different data reinforce this:
The country is the world’s fourth largest grain producer and the top producer of cattle.
In 30 agricultural products, it is among the five largest exporters.
This year alone, the agrobusiness sector is expected to move R$ 1 trillion, an amount that has tripled in 20 years.
With vast tracts of land and an economy that is still substantially agrarian, Brazil has also been stood out in the development of software for agrobusiness, such as agricultural management software.
Gradually, technology has invaded the sector and has brought modernization to the field, generating greater productivity and high profits for rural producers who are investing in new tools for their business.
In this article, Capterra has gathered 7 softwares for farms developed in Brazil and that are also popular in the market (check the methodology at the end of the text).
With the computerization of the rural sector, the agtechs (a combination of the words agriculture technology), startup companies that foster innovation in activities related to the field, have emerged.
The study Radar Agtech Brasil estimates that there are more than 1.5 thousand active agtechs in Brazil and, last year alone, the sector received US$ 67.3 million in investments in 18 investment rounds. With this, it is already considered the third largest segment of startups here, behind only the areas of education and health and welfare.
The sector’s technological innovation goes far beyond the automation of machines and processes. In recent years, the rural producer has seen a vertiginous growth in the offer of software for agribusiness that helps in all phases of their enterprise. In the agricultural world, they divide these phases into three moments:
Before the gate: this refers to farming inputs, pre-production services, and credit and insurance options.
Inside the gate: this refers to crop and livestock production itself, including farm management platforms, image monitoring, and content platforms.
After the farm gate: this refers to storage and distribution, such as marketplaces for agricultural products.
In this article, we will focus on the stage inside the gate (or farm), when farm management software is used. These programs have the function of automating the management of farms, either crop or livestock, through crop planning, machinery maintenance, accounting and cost control, and production monitoring, among other types of automation.
Software Resources available for farms
*Stock control
*Fiscal and profitability management
*Machinery and people management
*Sales price formation
*Field mapping
*Harvest planning
*Agricultural indicators
*Crop management
*Climate indicators
AGROBUSINESS SOFTWARES
A wide variety of software for farms were analysed and seven options have been listed based on the criteria established by Capterra (see complete methodology at the end of the text).
Aegro is a farm management tool that combines functionalities such as operational and financial management of farms. With Aegro, it is possible to work crop forecasts, control agricultural operations in real time and generate reports of the main production indicators to optimize processes. In addition, the software offers the rural producer mobility to manage his farm through a mobile or tablet application.
Main features:
- Crop planning and costing
- Rural financial management
- Invoice issuance
- Georeferenced observations
- Production and storage management
Agrotitan’s functionalities are divided into eight modules, which include CRM, BI, financial management and logistics, among others. For farm management, it offers the Agro Back Office module, which brings a package of resources that includes demand forecasting, crop planning, profitability control and cash flow, for example. This farm management software allows the creation of an online portal for the producer to have access to financial and commodity movements, as well as allowing direct communication with the customer.
Main features:
- Machinery control and maintenance
- Property management
- Seed production management
- Issue of intelligent prescriptions
- Producer portal
Connectere also has its functionalities structured in different modules, with some particularities. This software, for example, separates agriculture and livestock in different modules. It is a rural management software more focused on production preparation and monitoring, including from crop planning to electronic invoice issuance.
Main features:
- Farm planning
- Crop and animal management monitoring
- Stock control
- Producer’s cash book management
- Machinery management
Farmbox is a farm management platform that caters from small farmers to large cooperatives. Farmbox’s feature set is not very extensive, but it allows for efficient administration of the field and its resources. This agribusiness software includes cost and inventory management, input planning, rainfall forecasting and monitoring, and report generation.
Main features:
- Input planning
- Rainfall forecasting and monitoring.
- Stock management
- Report generation
- Spray monitoring
MyFarm is an agricultural management software specialized in grain farms. The seven modules of the tool, added to the mobile application, allow an operational planning allied to financial control. Climate indicators, order and stock management, control over machinery, and reports on crop indicators are just some of the features offered by MyFarm.
Main resources:
- Monitoring of field activities.
- Stock management and purchase history
- Contract management
- Issuance of electronic invoices
- Average fuel consumption of machinery
Perfarm is a farm management software oriented to the most diverse agribusiness segments. The tool is configured according to the type of agricultural production carried out, such as grains, beef cattle, coffee, sugar cane, and aquaculture. Specific resources are offered for each of them. In addition, Perfarm presents hiring plans that vary according to the size of the agrobusiness and the needs of the producer.
Main resources:
- Production resource management
- Field data collection in real time
- Account management and reconciliation
- Harvest traceability
- Future price simulation
- TOTVS Agro Multicultives
TOTVS Agro Multicultivos is a software for agrobusiness that meets the complete production chain for the most diverse types of crops. The solution offers about 15 modules, allowing to control the farming in all stages of the process, from planning the planting area to the product processing. Despite being broad, TOTVS Agro Multicultivos centralizes all the functionalities in a single platform to facilitate data visualization and decision making.
Main features:
- Operational planning
- Automotive maintenance
- Phytosanitary control
- Climatology
- Harvest and processing management
How to find the best software for farms
All software for agrobusiness presented in this article are Brazilian. In addition, most of them feature an integrated mobile application, allowing rural producers to monitor all stages of the crop and/or livestock breeding process at any time, wherever they are.
When choosing a software for agrobusiness, define whether your property needs a general tool or a platform with specific functionalities according to your type of farming. But pay attention to your long-term planning. If you intend to diversify your options in the future, avoid choosing a system that is too specific.
Another important point to analyse is the level of automation. Most tools allow you to record information, which generates important indicators for decision making. However, if you are looking for a solution with forecasting capacity, evaluate how the tools make use of artificial intelligence.
