Innovative Concepts for Traceability Software of Orchard Production

The requirements of traceability applications are function of the level of detail requested by traceability protocols (mandatory requirements, GlobalGap, Nature Choice’s) and of the needs to communicate the data along the fruit supply-chain, in electronic format. Some applications are available on-line. Three of them have been subjected to trials. The following defect were common among them: the application is built to satisfy all users, so it is quite complex for small farmers or for mandatory level of information tracing; the chemical database is not updated when needed, so farmers cannot load into the application the state-of-the-art, newly formulation even if allowed on the specific orchard; the user interface is sometime difficult to use for farmers, that are often reluctant to the use of software in general; too many controls during the insertion do not allow to insert partial data and delay the information recording. Specifically, some operation often carried out by the farmer (e.g. spraying of fungicides, insecticides) are difficult to insert because have to be carried on a single parcel for the software. The defects often prevent farmers to do the traceability task while carrying out the real activities. Instead, they prefer to do it at the end of the campaign. In this way the information is not available when the product is harvested. These considerations lead the authors to develop during two year project a stand-alone software for traceability, with focus on spraying operations. Among the peculiar features of the software the spraying on groups of parcels that allows to greatly reduce the data recording, the postdata control that allows partial data to be inserted into the application. In this way, the farmer can easily use the software and control the storage of chemical, load the product into the system even after chemical application. The paper present the main features of the application being developed and an example of application.