Since its launch in 2017, the FARMS software - created by FARMS Digital, Compagnie Fruitière's technology subsidiary - has continued to evolve to meet the real needs of producers. Here is a look back at the genesis of a constantly evolving project that continues to win over new professionals.
© FARMS Digital
Peter Bentata
Peter Bentata: Witness and player in an in-depth digital transformation of banana production at the origin of FARMS
It is hard to talk about FARMS without mentioning Peter Bentata, vice-president of Production at Compagnie Fruitière, a witness and player in an in-depth digital transformation of banana production. Upon graduating from AgroParis Tech, Peter Bentata joined SICABAM (a banana producers' group) in 1997 as part of a VAT scheme. It was an opportunity to discover the first project management tools applied to agriculture. After this initial experience, Peter Bentata was recruited in 1998 by an agricultural company in Martinique, which owned hundreds of hectares. One of the farms was entrusted to him in a sensitive social context, and this is where the FARMS project was born. "The organization was still largely based on manual tools: notebooks, paper tables. With a service provider, we developed an initial solution using Access to monitor tallying and production. It was not much, but it got us thinking about what digital technology could do for our production processes."
After a spell in the agricultural trade, which highlighted the lack of tools that really met the needs of farms in terms of production monitoring, Peter Bentata joined Compagnie Fruitière in 2008. And in 2015, with the support of the group's management, the FARMS project was launched. "The objective was clear: to automate data collection, make information more reliable, and enable real-time management. The tool was built around geolocation, barcodes, and, at one point, RFID chips, even though they were still too expensive at the time. This project was fuelled by feedback from the field and the commitment of many employees. What we were looking for was a precise, reliable, and usable view of agricultural activity, with the possibility of assessing performance at the intra-plot level."
This solution appears to be one of the only ones on the market today to offer such advanced analysis. "To our knowledge, no other company has such an advanced tool today. Nothing is stopping them from doing so, but it does require a substantial investment, both financial and human. The key is a long-term vision and the mobilization of multidisciplinary teams."
© FARMS Digital
FARMS: A very strong deployment dynamic
Initially focused on plot monitoring and harvesting, the tool now integrates:
- Optimizing productivity within parcels
- Population management
- Disease (sigatoka) and pest (weevils) management
- Staff management
- Interconnection with third-party tools: weather, weighing, irrigation...
- Interconnection with Business Intelligence systems
- Automated bunches grading via a connected grading system
- Yield calculation at plot level
- Monitoring of work costs
"Today, FARMS is much more than software. It is a modular digital platform that covers complete traceability, from field to box, with continuous updates," explains Hortense Giraud, head of sales & marketing at FARMS Digital.
The technology continues to be exported around the world, with the aim of helping even more producers. "Our teams are constantly on the move to support producers. After the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Brazil, we are now preparing to roll out our technology in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico. Each new country is an opportunity to adapt FARMS to local realities and share best practices across continents."
FARMS has already been rolled out to some 15 producers in 6 countries on 2 continents. "The momentum for deployment of the software is very strong. The solution is available in French, English, and Spanish, and will soon be available in Portuguese. In many cases, the software can be a major asset for production. For example, intra-plot monitoring enables our clients to evaluate their agronomic trials, which are carried out on half-plots only. There is also the identification and protection of areas where clients have been subject to a lot of theft, and the fact that this has helped to maintain Fair Trade certification, particularly by making it possible to prove employees' working hours."
© FARMS Digital
The Derose farm
One striking example is the Derose farm, whose organization has been transformed by the tool. "In the video below, the superintendent explains that he can no longer do without FARMS, as is the case for many producers and clients today. FARMS has enabled them to improve their productivity and reduce costs, improve the quality of the harvest by increasing the average grade, have accurate production forecasts, and thus improve sales. It has helped to improve production management, recovery, reduce the level of infestation, losses, and the number of missed bunches, but also the level of theft, rejected, or infected bunches. Finally, it has increased population density and the number of harvested bunches and has helped better manage risk."
Several farms in Africa have welcomed the tool enthusiastically, even non-literate workers, thanks to an intuitive interface. "Farmers who have adopted FARMS never want to go back. No more forms to fill in by hand, no more tedious re-keying. Managers and teams gain in time, transparency, and recognition. The tool supports production that is more efficient, more sustainable, and better aligned with Fair Trade requirements.
FARMS: a constant source of innovation
While FARMS has undergone many changes in 8 years, the software remains a constant source of innovation. "In the short term, we plan to extend the software to other crops such as vanilla and mango, with the ambition of building a tropical agricultural data platform open to all crops. We are also studying the inclusion of new functions such as:
- Mobile weighing in the field (for plantains)
- Adding a BI solution packaged with Quicksight.
- Extending the workforce application to include human resources software
- The automatic disease recognition module
- Task management
- Fertilization
- Management of micro-planting on an intracellular scale
- Predictive models with AI
© FARMS Digital "The challenge ahead is data processing," explains Peter Bentata. "Artificial intelligence will enable us to better anticipate risks, model situations, and detect technical anomalies. The idea is not to replace human skills, but to reinforce and equip them. For example, image analysis will enable diseases to be identified earlier or irrigation practices to be optimized. The agricultural sector is undergoing a real transformation. And to support this, we need systems capable of processing a growing mass of data. Those who are already equipped, as we are with FARMS, are starting from a solid base. But this transformation concerns the entire sector, and it will have to be based on robust, open, and scalable tools."
In conclusion, FARMS is based above all on a collective desire "to give farmers the means to understand their production better, make better decisions and act more effectively. By structuring and making the most of data from the field, we strengthen their ability to anticipate and analyze. And in a way, we are also putting people back at the heart of performance."
"Fruit Attraction is the place to be for us"
FARMS Digital will be present at Fruit Attraction to showcase its FARMS software. "Fruit Attraction is the place to be for us: a unique place to meet producers, prospects, partners, and the press. For the first time this year, we will officially present our innovations under the FARMS Digital banner. We will be located in Hall 10, Booth D06. The program will include live demos, a presentation of our new products, and future features. The show will also be an opportunity to listen to the needs of producers and partners. Two highlights will be our TED-style talk ("Augmented agriculture: smart data from bunch to box", on Tuesday, September 30th at 1.30 pm at Foro Fruit Next 10), and our participation in the Fruit Attraction 2025 Innovation Awards.
For more information:
FARMS Digital
[email protected]
https://farms-digital.com/home