Growmark is partnering with Solinftec, a Brazilian company, to marry logistics, analytics and real time weather data to increase machinery and input use efficiency.

Solinftec established its U.S. headquarters at Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Ind., in 2019 and began researching the needs of U.S. ag retailers and growers. Initial research in the U.S. found ag retailers’ machines were idle 30% of the time, traveling 35% of the time and generating revenue 35% of the time. Solinftec saw the potential to more than double the average acreage covered by one sprayer in a season.

Over the past year and a half, Growmark and several of its FS cooperatives have collaborated with Solinftec to develop a software solution that significantly enhances the operational efficiency of its custom application business. The Solinftec sprayer/spreader solution for crop protection products, anhydrous ammonia and other fertilizers will be available to all of Growmark's FS cooperatives across the U.S. and Canada for the 2021 growing season.

"With Solinftec technology, we are getting more acres applied in a day and more acres through each machine," says Lance Ruppert, Growmark's director of agronomy marketing technology.

Solinftec delivers solutions that optimize the timing and application of pesticides, anhydrous ammonia and fertilizers to help assure timely, effective and regulatory-compliant applications with immediate connectivity and full visibility of services being provided. “We organize the whole supply chain to keep the machines working,” says Daniel Padrão, Solinftec’s chief operating officer. “Our clients can expect at least a 70% increase in operational efficiency.”

The Solinftec web-based software uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to create the most efficient daily schedules and routes for a fleet by integrating information from many sources including work orders, weather forecast, real time equipment and weather data, agronomic data and more. This information is communicated in real time to the custom applicator, the tender truck driver, the dispatch office and the sales agronomist through a Solinftec app.