Farm Management & Precision Farming Software

Who it's for

Cereal farms with 30+ hectares Managing maize, wheat, soy, or sunflower over large areas means facing enormous variable costs — seed, fertilizers, pesticides, fuel — without ever having a precise cost-per-hectare per crop. The software centralizes all purchase invoices, links them to the cadastral parcels worked, and automatically calculates the margin for each field. Not at year-end with the accountant, but in real time after every intervention.

Market gardeners and specialty crop producers Tomato, courgette, pepper: labor-intensive crops with very short cycles. Every delay in detecting water stress or pest attacks costs thousands of euros. The system integrates soil moisture sensors and forecast weather data to generate irrigation and treatment alerts calibrated to real field conditions, not fixed calendars.

Livestock farms with integrated crop production Those who raise cattle or pigs and also manage land for forage production need to reconcile two completely separate systems. The management system unifies the animal feeding plan with on-farm forage production, calculating requirements and planning crop rotations accordingly.

Cooperatives and producer consortiums Cooperatives that aggregate member contributions from different farms need to collect homogeneous data, compare yields between members, and demonstrate traceability across the entire supply chain. The system supports multi-company setups with aggregated dashboards and reports for each individual member.

Agronomists and farm consultants Those who consult for 10-15 farms lose hours every week collecting data from clients by phone or email. The software offers a consultant portal where each client farm feeds its own data and the consultant accesses a consolidated dashboard of all managed farms.

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Problems it solves

Unknown production cost per crop 83% of Italian farms with less than 100 hectares do not calculate production cost per individual crop at field level. Farm or area averages are used, which don't account for soil variability, distance from the farm centre, or individual machinery efficiency. The software links every purchase invoice, every machine-hour, and every labor hour to the specific cadastral parcel, producing a profit and loss statement per field at the end of each season.

Losses from late interventions on diseases and pests Major phytopathologies of maize (ear rot, corn rootworm) and wheat (fusarium, powdery mildew) have treatment windows of 48-72 hours. Beyond that window, treatment efficacy drops and yield losses can reach 25-30%. The system integrates phytopathological risk forecasting models calibrated on local weather data and sends push notifications to the agronomist when conditions favour outbreaks.

Reactive rather than preventive machinery maintenance A tractor stopped during peak harvest can cost €2,000-5,000 in lost production per day, not counting the machine downtime cost. The maintenance module tracks hours worked per vehicle, records interventions performed, and automatically generates maintenance plans based on the manufacturer's service manual. The alert arrives before the breakdown, not after.

Laborious CAP reporting and error risk The CAP single payment application requires precise correspondence between declared parcels, crops grown, and interventions performed. Errors in declarations expose farms to ineligibility or quota reductions. The software maintains a digital log of crop activities compliant with CAP conditionality requirements, exportable in formats required by regional AGEA offices.

No multi-year comparative history Deciding whether to plant wheat or maize on a field requires multi-year data on yield, cost, and margin. Without a structured archive, these decisions are based on memory. The system archives each season's data and makes it available in comparative charts showing yield trends per field, per crop, and per cultivation technique.

Untracked fuel consumption Agricultural diesel is one of the main cost factors and at the same time the most difficult line item to reconcile. Fixed tank refuels, mobile refuels, different consumption per type of operation: without tracking per vehicle and per operation, it's impossible to verify theoretical consumption against actual. The fuel management module records every withdrawal, links it to the vehicle and operation, and automatically flags deviations from historical consumption averages.

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Key features

Cadastral mapping and integrated GIS Import cadastral parcels from the Revenue Agency or from shape files, display them on updated satellite orthophotos, and link them to the current crop rotation. Each field has a dedicated profile with crop history, historical yields, soil analysis, and interventions performed.

Digital crop plan Plan crop rotations for the next 3-5 years respecting CAP constraints (greening, diversification), soil nitrogen requirements, and integrated production protocol requirements. The system flags violations before they occur.

Pesticide application log Record every treatment with product, dose, operator, vehicle, and weather conditions, meeting the requirements of EU Regulation 1107/2009 on sustainable pesticide use. Generates the digital treatment log ready for inspection.

Machine-hour and consumption tracking Each agricultural vehicle has a profile with total hours, maintenance interventions, and historical consumption per type of operation. Optional GPS transponder integration adds real-time tracking of field operations.

Smart irrigation planning Integrates evapotranspiration (ET0) data calculated from an on-farm weather station or regional station network, combines it with the field capacity of mapped soils, and generates an optimized irrigation plan for each sector. Reduces average water consumption by 20-30% compared to fixed calendars.

Inventory and procurement management Maintains real-time inventory of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, links each withdrawal to the recorded intervention, and automatically generates repurchase orders when stocks fall below threshold. Supports FIFO for products with expiry dates.

CAP module and single payment application Manages area declarations, CAP entitlements, and the SIAN company file, producing the pre-compilation of the single payment application. Includes eligibility checks to avoid errors in declarations.

Soil analysis and precision fertilization Archives soil analyses by parcel, calculates the fertilization plan respecting the Agronomic Use Plan (AUP) for nitrate-vulnerable zones, and produces accompanying documents for slurry application.

Labor and field operation management Plans field operations (planting, harvesting, treatments) assigning operators and machines, records actual hours, and generates data for payroll of seasonal workers typical of the agricultural sector.

Supply chain traceability and certifications Supports GlobalGAP, SQNPI, and organic certifications with documentation required by large-scale retail buyers. Generates a product QR code allowing the end consumer to trace back to the production field.

Offline-first mobile app The app works offline with automatic synchronization when connectivity is restored. The operator records the intervention directly on the tractor with automatic GPS positioning, without needing to return to the office.

Analytics dashboard and season reports Dashboard with key KPIs: cost per hectare, yield per crop, fuel consumption, irrigation efficiency. Season report exportable to PDF or Excel for the bank, accountant, or consortium meetings.

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Typical workflow

Season start (February-March for spring crops) You open the software and consult the multi-year crop plan: the system shows you which field had maize last year and suggests the optimal rotation. You confirm the plan, the system automatically updates the SIAN company file with the planned crops and generates the list of required inputs (seed, herbicides, fertilizers) with estimated quantities per hectare.

Input purchasing and stock loading You enter purchase invoices or, if the supplier is integrated via EDI, the system imports them automatically. Each product is loaded into stock with batch, expiry date, and unit cost. The system immediately updates the season budget.

Field operations execution The operator opens the app on the tablet mounted on the tractor, selects the intervention (base fertilization), the field, and the product from stock. GPS automatically detects the parcel. At the end of the intervention, the app records hours, quantity applied, and weather conditions. The treatment log updates without office involvement.

Mid-season agronomic alert In June you receive a notification: the forecasting model signals medium-high risk of aflatoxins in maize over the next 10 days. The system has already identified the highest-risk fields based on the variety planted and soil analyses. You plan the treatment, the system generates the stock withdrawal slip and updates the log.

Harvest and weighing During harvest, you enter weighbridge tickets from the collection centre or import them via direct integration. The system automatically calculates yield per hectare for each field, compares it with history, and flags anomalies (one field yielding 10% below historical average: possible drainage issue to investigate further).

Season close and economic analysis In September, the dashboard shows the profit and loss per crop and per field. You see that maize on that far field costs €180/t against an average of €145/t: the distance and extra fuel consumption no longer justify cultivation. You decide to lease it out.

CAP application In May, the CAP module has already aggregated all declared crops, worked areas, and recorded interventions. Pre-completing the application takes 20 minutes of verification instead of 3 days of data collection.

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Integrations

SIAN (National Agricultural Information System) Import of the company file, synchronization of cadastral parcels, and pre-compilation of the CAP single payment application in formats compliant with AGEA requirements.

Weather stations (Davis, Pessl, FieldClimate) Direct connection to on-farm weather stations or regional station networks for real-time acquisition of temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and wind speed.

Satellite platforms (Sentinel-2, Planet) Integration with NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) satellite imagery for monitoring crop vegetative status and early identification of water or nutritional stress at field scale.

Accounting software (Zucchetti Agri, TeamSystem) Automatic export of accounting records to the most widely used Italian agricultural accounting software, eliminating double data entry.

Grain collection and storage centres Automatic import of weighbridge tickets from major grain cooperatives and collection centres, with automatic yield reconciliation per field.

Agricultural input suppliers (cooperatives, consortiums) EDI integration with major consortium suppliers for automatic import of delivery notes and invoices for fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides.

Certification platforms (SQNPI, GlobalGAP) Export of traceability documentation in the format required by certification bodies for annual inspections.

Offline-first mobile app Bidirectional synchronization with the iOS/Android app for field use even without connectivity, with automatic update when connection is restored.

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Custom software vs off-the-shelf

International agricultural management software is designed for Anglo-Saxon markets with subsidy, certification, and cadastral systems completely different from the Italian ones. Adapting them to the Italian context — with CAP in its regional details, SIAN, the integrated production protocols of individual regions, and retail certifications — requires customizations so deep that it's effectively more cost-effective to start from scratch with a system designed for Italian agriculture.

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Timeline, budget and process

Phase 1 — Analysis and mapping (weeks 1-3) Interviews with the owner, agronomist, and key operators. Parcel mapping, SIAN company file import, machinery inventory, and current procedure analysis. Deliverable: functional specification document and system architecture.

Phase 2 — Core development (weeks 4-10) Development of core modules: field registry, crop plan, intervention log, input inventory management, machinery tracking. Demo at end of phase with real farm data.

Phase 3 — Integrations and advanced modules (weeks 11-16) SIAN integration, weather station connection, phytopathological forecasting model, CAP module. Testing with the current season or historical data from the previous season.

Phase 4 — Training and launch (weeks 17-19) Training for the owner, agronomist, and field operators on the mobile app. 4-week coaching period with direct support during the first complete crop cycle.

Indicative range: For a cereal farm with 50-100 hectares, 3-5 tracked machines, and SIAN integration, the indicative budget falls between €15,000 and €35,000 depending on integration complexity and the number of certifications to manage. Larger farms or those with multiple retail certifications fall in higher ranges.

Maintenance: Annual maintenance contract including regulatory updates (any change to CAP regulations, SIAN forms, pesticide databases), platform technology updates, backup and disaster recovery, and dedicated technical support with guaranteed SLA. Graffico does not apply per-user or per-hectare fees.