PastureBase Ireland – Update on New Developments

This week close to 1,000 farm grass covers were completed on PastureBase Ireland (PBI). Weekly monitoring farm grass covers is an essential part of good grassland management at this time of year.

Teagasc set up PastureBase Ireland as a web based grassland measurement database for farmers. It merged with AgriNet Grass as part of a strategic step forward for Irish farmers in grassland management. Over the past number of months AgriNet Grass users are being transferred to PBI with the objective of having just one grassland data base for all grassland farmers. While acknowledging that this is a significant change for AgriNet Grass users, it will be of benefit to all grassland farmers in Ireland.

Currently PBI is undergoing a number of developments to make it more farmer friendly. The objective in the long term is to make PBI much better with new added tools. The following are significant developments being completed:

1. A new invitations section allows users to share their data with other farmers/discussion groups and advisors. This section was subject to new data protection guidelines, so for all AgriNet Grass users, all old linkages need to be recreated in PBI.
2. The milk data link with Glanbia is now live Glanbia will be in contact with farmers directly regarding the linkup. Co-ops such as Arrabawn, Aurivo, Dairygold, Glanbia, Kerry and Lakeland have all their milk input coming into PBI. It’s hoped by year end, that all co-ops will have this facility available to farmers.
3. The projected grass wedge and planner have been released to the system.
4. An Android offline app will be released the first week of June and the offline iOS app will be available two weeks later in mid-June. PBI can be used if internet is available, however on many farms this is not the case. The new app will speed up data entry for farmers out in the field.

Both Teagasc and Agrinet Grass would like to thank the participating farmers for their patience in getting the migration process completed; the new data protection regulations held up this process at different stages. The release of the projected wedge and planner today and offline app in the next few weeks, should greatly aid farmers in the recording of grass covers, graze dates, fertiliser application and milk data offline. The use of the offline app was probably underestimated in the development of PBI; many farmers use this tool and it clearly highlights the lack of good internet access on many farms.

In early June a number meetings will be held with grassland farmers to plan further developments of PBI to improve the usability of the system.  PastureBase Ireland has a dedicated helpdesk where there are a number of tutorial videos available on how to use different options. The website can be visited at www.pbi.ie for more information, or email support@pbi.ie