Rob Boole is a crop spraying contractor and agronomist based in North Wiltshire. His company, Boole Crop Specialists Ltd, supplies and applies agricultural chemicals and fertilisers. Rob works on over 350 farms and manages the logistics of both his own team and contract workers. He discovered fieldmargin over a year ago and instantly saw its potential as a tool to help his operations.
“The amount of fields we deal with is massive, we were working with over 10 ring binders of paper maps. It has been great to digitise them. It means that the whole team can access them on their tablet in the cabs. This is a really nice app – I’ve been waiting for something like this to come along for ages.”
Rob has 169 farms set up on fieldmargin and has drawn boundaries for over 1800 fields. His permanent team members and new starts have all learned to use the app very quickly and use it every day for sharing and accessing information about jobs. Sometimes he invites clients to contribute to farms on fieldmargin as well so that everyone can be on the same page.
“Something as simple as being able to easily see the names of the fields using my mobile is really helpful. I can save locations and key information about the jobs on the app. This means I don’t get loads of phone calls from my team asking me what’s the postcode or gate codes of so-and-so.”
Rob also uses fieldmargin for health and safety with his team. His team can share their locations using Team Radar and they are encouraged to mark and share risks on the map while they are out and about in the field.
“We are acutely aware of the risks and hazards associated with agriculture. As a contractor, we need to carry out risk assessments several times a day. We have already seen the benefits of documenting & sharing risks on farms whilst also being able to see where everyone is working.”
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