askcust develops field operations planning software: technology maps become a calendar of operations with dates, machinery, people and materials, and the season's bottlenecks are visible before it starts. For farms where the work plan is made at a meeting and kept in Excel and in the chief agronomist's head.
Field operations planning software is a system that builds a calendar of operations from each field's technology map and calculates how much machinery, implements, operators, seed, fertiliser, crop protection products and fuel it requires and what it will cost. It shows where resources will run short and helps reschedule the work. Unlike field operations records, which capture what has been done, planning answers what to do, when and with what.
The software calculates the daily need for implements from areas and shift productivity and compares it with the fleet. Bottlenecks, such as sprayers during a treatment window, are visible in advance, while work can still be rescheduled or services hired.
Seed, fertiliser, crop protection product and fuel needs are collected from every field's technology map into a schedule of dates when each item must be in stock, the basis for purchasing and supplier agreements.
When weather shifts the work, the software recalculates the calendar: which operations move, where they fall outside agronomic dates or growth stages and what to reschedule first. Several plan versions can be compared before work orders change.
Season, week and day plans live in one system: the agronomist sees operations by field, the engineer machinery load, the crew leader tomorrow's tasks. Approved operations become work orders checked against actuals.
Costs of materials, fuel, machinery work and labour are calculated from the same operations as the calendar, so any change to the plan shows up in the budget by field and crop at once.
Technology maps are kept in this software or come from the agronomy software; the module set is defined during the analysis.
Each field's technology map operations get dates or windows by BBCH growth stage, a duration from area and implement productivity, and a sequence: no sowing before seedbed preparation.
Daily occupancy of tractors, combines, sprayers and drills: where implements are short and where they stand idle, including travel between fields and farm units.
Machine operators with their machinery permits, shifts and days off; the plan shows how many people each day needs and warns when nobody can be assigned to an implement.
Seed, fertiliser, crop protection products and fuel in quantities and dates checked against warehouse stock; a shortage becomes a purchase request with the date the goods must arrive.
A weather service forecast next to the calendar, spraying limits for wind and temperature that the agronomist sets for each product, and plan recalculation when an operation is moved.
A copy of the plan for testing options: a different crop structure, rented combines or a week of rain. Options are compared by dates, machinery load and budget before one becomes the working plan.
Planned costs per hectare, field and crop from materials, fuel at standard rates, machinery work and labour; once approved, the plan becomes the baseline for comparison with actuals.
Planning takes data from the farm's existing systems; actual completion comes back from field records and telematics.
| criterion | Excel and the morning meeting | Module of an off-the-shelf agri platform | Planning by askcust |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machinery load | Kept in the engineer's head; shortages show up when an implement is already needed. | Available if the platform models your fleet and implements. | Calculated daily from your implements' productivity and travel between fields. |
| Inventory needs | Compiled by hand from technology maps into a purchase sheet once a season. | Calculated from the platform's technology maps, without a link to your warehouse. | Checked against warehouse stock and BAS and turned into purchase requests. |
| Rescheduling | Every change means a new file and calls to all crew leaders. | Moves single operations; effects on machinery and budget are not always visible. | Shows the effect on machinery, dates and budget and compares options. |
| Link to actuals | Plan and actuals sit in different spreadsheets and are compared at season end. | Actuals are entered in the platform; telematics only with a ready integration. | Approved operations become work orders; actuals come from field records and telematics. |
| When to choose | A few fields, one crew, a plan that fits on one sheet. | Standard technology maps and processes the platform already supports. | Several farm units, your own fleet and rules, a link to warehouse and actuals. |
askcust reviews last year's plan and actuals: technology maps, fleet, implements, people, and where bottlenecks and idle time occurred. The result is a planning model and the list of rules the software must follow.
Last season is replayed in a prototype with real technology maps and the real fleet; the engineer and the agronomist check that the software sees the same bottlenecks that actually happened.
Development of the operations calendar, machinery and staff load, inventory needs and budget; field, technology map and warehouse data come from the farm's existing systems.
The current season's working plan is kept in the software, approved operations become work orders, and feedback from agronomists and engineers goes into the next releases.
Connection to field records and telematics to compare plan and actuals, rule adjustments before each season and further development under a support agreement.
examples of askcust's work →not agriculture, but the same kind of task: records, CRM, automation
Yes. The plan is kept by farm unit, farm or cluster under the same rules, and machinery and people can be assigned to one unit or shared between several. The software then shows where to move implements at peak times and accounts for travel time between the fields of different farms.
Approved plan operations become work orders, and their actual completion comes from field operations records and telematics: date, area, machinery and materials used. The software shows delays against the calendar, missed operations and overuse against plan for every field while work can still be rescheduled.
Yes, as a constraint and as a trigger for replanning. A forecast from a weather service with an API is shown next to the calendar, spraying operations are checked against the products' weather limits, and when work is moved the software recalculates the following operations. The decision to move work stays with the agronomist and the engineer.
Yes, the budget is calculated from the same operations as the calendar: materials at technology map rates and warehouse prices, fuel at standard consumption rates per operation, machinery work and labour. Any change to the plan shows up in the budget by field and crop at once, and once approved it becomes the baseline for actuals.
On the farm's own server or cloud account: the code and the database belong to the client. Planning exchanges data with existing systems through APIs or exchange files, so technology maps, warehouse stock and actual work are not duplicated by hand, and past seasons' plans stay with you.
The cost depends on the number of planning rules, the size of the fleet and units and the integrations with the warehouse, field records and telematics, not on the area. You can start with the calendar and machinery load on one farm unit; askcust estimates the first stage with a fixed scope after reviewing last season.
A reply within one business day; a call only if we agree on one.