Learn more about Spray
History System and Gerber's participation in the EPA's Pesticide
Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP), a voluntary
public/private partnership to reduce pesticide risk.
Gerber PESP Strategies:
2002,
2000,
1999
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Success Stories - Large
Food Processor
Spray History
System
Business Challenge
North America’s
leading baby food processor was faced with a mountain of paper –
that is, paper spray histories. A spray history is a detailed record
of pesticide usage provided by the grower as a condition of
purchase. Since the processor maintains a strict "no detectable
residue" policy, thousands of spray histories must be collected
and manually reviewed for compliance with their complex spray
restriction program. With more than 400 suppliers for 14 different
crops spread out across the country and limited field staff, a new
approach was needed for this critical task.
Back to the Source
Paper spray
histories had presented a number of challenges over the years. They
were often hard to decipher, filled out incorrectly or incompletely,
or late to arrive. If data could be entered at the source, the data
would be more accurate and timely. However, there were a few
unknowns. Did the growers have computers? Were they familiar with
computerized record keeping? If they didn’t have a computer now,
would they be willing to buy one? To gauge the grower’s technical
savvy and interests, Synchronicity conducted a grower survey.
As it turned out, business computer
usage was not widespread. Many growers were just starting to look
into computers for e-mail and accessing the Internet. Only a small
handful of growers were actually using computers to record their
spray histories.
Data Entry Options
For this
approach to work across the large and diverse grower base, a range
of data entry solutions would be needed. This was accomplished by
standardizing the data collected and then providing 3 different data
entry options with different price points:
 1.
Tiger Jill software, a
multi-function farm management tool from Orange Enterprises of
Fresno, California
2. SprayNet, a new data entry
intranet that would be developed by Synchronicity
3. Fee-based data entry by a few
regional firms trained in using Tiger Jill.
A Validation Server
Once the data
are entered, the spray histories would need to be transmitted,
received, and validated against label and processor restrictions.
With no commercial software available to provide that functionality,
it was necessary to pursue a custom solution. Synchronicity defined
system requirements and worked with software vendor Orange
Enterprises to develop and test data transfer and server
functionality. Reports were developed for use by the field staff and
receiving stations. The resulting software, which includes the Tiger
Jill Spray History Server and Connectivity module, are now
commercially available to other food processors.
Critical Rollout Support
Prior to
"going live", Synchronicity conducted pilots for SprayNet
& Tiger Jill users, developed training and documentation materials for both
systems and ran regional training events. Synchronicity also helped
build the critical reference database which included the processor’s
spray restrictions for over 450 materials on 14 different crops, 73
different pests (both insects & weeds), and other proprietary
information. This database is used internally and distributed to all
growers using Tiger Jill for data entry.
Result
Synchronicity’s
flexible solution ensured rapid transition by the grower community
to full electronic data collection. The Spray History server from
Orange Enterprises lets the field staff focus on the
"exceptions". Now the grower & field staff can make
alternate arrangements earlier in the season if compliance problems
are identified.
The pesticide usage data has also
proven useful for identifying current pest management practices,
regional production and pest management differences, and measuring
the transition to alternative pest management strategies – a key
part of the processor’s long term business strategy.
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