Data technology company works with university to develop farming software

Oakland International’s Distress Load Management Service expands again

Oakland International’s distress load management (DLM) service is seeing increased demand with plans to expand the team over the coming year.

A data technology company helping farmers increase crop yield and farm profitability is working with Hartpury University’s Home Farm near Gloucester as the latest demonstration site for its operations software, Live Farmer.

First Base Solutions, which is based at Pebworth in North Worcesteshire, is using one of the innovative workspaces at Hartpury’s Tech Box Park, which is part of its Digital Innovation Farm, to develop and adapt new technologies for the farming industry.

Live Farmer is used by growers and producers of fresh produce and plants, and has more than 400 installations across Europe, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

The innovative cloud-based farm management system enables farm owners, farm managers, agronomists and packhouse managers to manage their farms in real-time and use live data and costings to make better farming decisions.

Steve Bradstock, MD at First Base Solutions Ltd and Live Farmer, said: “With Live Farmer, you can see crops in real time and track all your resources. This means you can manage all aspects of the farm much more e ciently and make informed decisions when it comes to labour, machinery, and even the weather –and be as productive as possible with your time.

“The UK’s exit from Europe and di culty in getting labour, fertilisers, and other agricultural products through the winter months has really shocked the UK farming industry into realising that they need to grow crops all year round. The only way they can do that is by using technology, capital investment, artificial intelligence and robotics along with new forms of energy.”

A distress load is where food safety may have been compromised. A spoiled or distress load can be costly for any business, whether it’s food or not, and can include collapsed pallets, clandestine infiltration, temperature violation, theft, vermin or other contamination.

Distress loads are a frequent occurrence across all industries and cost a significant amount of time and money.

Oakland’s dedicated DLM service helps save unnecessary product from going to waste.

Oakland’s soon to be launched real-time DLM App will help improve the e ciency of the service, speeding all processes up and providing swift customer report data.

Oakland International’s CEO of Contract Logistics Division Shaun Foley, said: “Our DLM service delivers huge reductions in written o stock, is sustainable, and helps prevent unnecessary waste. Non-conforming stock or stock which may be classed as ‘at risk’ is transferred to our anaerobic digestion waste management partner for secure destruction.”

Oakland International processes and saves as much stock as possible at its central UK hub in Redditch, with an average recovery rate of 85 per cent per load.