Crop-R – a 'farm' in the middle of the city!

The smell of paint combined with newly laid carpeting betrays that they have only just moved in. For the rest, it seems as if Crop-R has been in the Mediacentrale for years. And secretly, it is not the first time that Ivor, founder and owner of Crop-R, has barricaded himself in the Mediacentrale. We went to Ivor for a coffee to admire his new office and to ask him about the ingenious piece of technology that he and his team have developed.

Wandering around the Media Center

Ivor Bosloper started his career as an employee of Wisdom on the third floor and then worked for a few years at Kalooga, also a resident of the Mediacentrale. As a result, he has been wandering around the Mediacentrale for about ten years. In 2011, Ivor decided it was time to set up his own company. In his search for office space, he ended up at – how could it be otherwise – the Mediacentrale. At Voys, he was allowed to rent a few workplaces to help his company get going. When both Voys and Ivor's company grew – and there turned out to be no room in the Mediacentrale – Crop-R moved to the adjacent Helpercentrale. There was also a good energy there; Crop-R grew steadily in two years to a company with about 14 employees. Ivor is now 'back on the spot' and he and his team live in a beautiful office on the second floor.

Online crop registration

So what exactly does Crop-R do? Ivor starts to tell us enthusiastically: “Crop-R helps arable farmers with the administration of everything that happens on and around the farm. We have developed software that allows farmers to easily record their daily cultivation activities in the fields. They can do this via the website, but also via the mobile app. Recording this data directly and online saves farmers a lot of administrative hassle. They can have all the data registered automatically and also easily share it with their employees and advisors.

Data, data, data

What do these specific cultivation activities entail? What do arable farmers record? “Of course, the way the software is used differs per farmer,” says Ivor. “But arable farmers can easily manage their stock with Crop-R, for example. They can see where products such as fertilizer or pesticides have been used, how much has come in and what should be in the shed. This way, they can easily see what the consumption per product is per week (and check whether the invoicing of contractors is correct).”

Another useful functionality of Crop-R is that the arable farmer can draw his cadastral parcel. Using the Crop-R application, he can indicate which crop is grown on the plots, what the surface area of the plot is and what operations have been done on the land. All of this is then recorded in a database, so that the farmer can retrieve this data anytime and anywhere.”

Ivor: “In the past, an arable farmer’s land was located directly on or near his farm. Nowadays, the plots are increasingly further apart. It is therefore essential to take the most efficient route, both from the farm to the land and between the plots. That is why we have created a link with a route planner, which allows arable farmers to save around 10 to 20% of diesel. They can see directly what the fastest and most efficient route is to and between the plots.”

Of course, this data is not stored for nothing. “The farmer can use this data to create a balance report, so that he gains insight into the yield per plot or crop,” Ivor says enthusiastically. “But he can also easily export data about, for example, the operations that have been carried out on the crop and share it with customers. In addition, Crop-R links to data sources that are relevant to the farmer. You can think of satellites and weather stations, but you can also link the software to self-driving tractors, for example. That makes storing, analysing and using data even easier.”

This recording, processing and sharing of data ensures that farmers, consultants and contractors can work together effectively. In this way, agricultural entrepreneurs can plan tasks for their employees. The employee can immediately see what needs to be done and then also register his activities directly. The work done is then linked to the planning, so that the farmer can always see whether the planning matches the execution. But accountancy firms can also easily obtain detailed information about the agricultural company in this way.

International ambitions

Crop-R is now used in some 20 to 30 countries. “For example, our app has been translated into Chinese, because Chinese farmers also appeared to have an interest in the app!”, Ivor proudly says. In addition, Crop-R recently merged with Dacom. This company has been active in facilitating agricultural entrepreneurs for much longer, but then in the field of disease and insect control, irrigation and fertilization advice. Together they will continue under the name Dacom Farm Intelligence and the two companies can serve the agricultural entrepreneur even better and thus offer a complete farm management system. Does this merger mean that Ivor and his team will leave Mediacentrale again? “No, not at all!”, Ivor calls out laughing. We simply have two locations; one in Emmen and one in Groningen. Moreover, Mediacentrale is a wonderful place; I don’t want to leave here just like that.”