Insightful Crop Metrics Solution Empowering Nut Growers

The Challenges

For nut growers, knowing, at a glance, which fields are set for profitable harvests and which need immediate attention becomes a compass, guiding decisions that can mean the difference between a bumper crop and a missed opportunity. With intelligent metrics at their fingertips, nut growers can steer each acre toward peak performance, ensuring every harvest reaches its full potential. Recognizing this, the client considered developing an app displaying key metrics on nuts like almonds and walnuts.

An app showing the complete picture of nut quality and readiness could help growers decide on harvest timing and handling. Such an app would be like having a pulse on the orchard’s health. To this end, the client approached Capital Numbers as their technology partner in developing such an app.

However, the path to creating this app dashboard held a unique challenge for Capital Numbers: We needed to design a secure, dedicated folder on our server - a digital vault - where the client could safely upload raw information on walnuts and almonds. The client wanted this setup because they wanted to retain complete control over data upload while protecting the confidentiality of their ERP system.

This specialized setup had to serve as an automated bridge, allowing raw data to flow effortlessly from upload to actionable insight. Crafting this solution required precision engineering skills, such as advanced data processing and secure FTP configuration, to ensure that every metric on walnuts and almonds - from moisture levels to yield percentages - arrives on the app dashboard on time.

Additionally, we had to configure the FTP data feed logic with a smart three-day data window, allowing a one-day overlap to ensure no data slips through the cracks. By overlapping one-day data flow, we had to cover every potential gap, guaranteeing a continuous data stream without any misses.

Technology

• 
  WordPress
• 
  MySQL
• 
  JavaScript
• 
  jQuery
• 
  HTML
• 
  Twilio
• 
  Chartkick
• 
  File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• 
  AWS

Screenshots

Results

Capital Numbers' precision-driven approach resulted in a powerhouse application that puts every critical nut metric at growers’ fingertips while shielding the client’s ERP system. From nut weight and inedible pounds to loose kernels, chip percentage, crack-out rate, foreign material percentage, and moisture levels, it’s all in one interface, helping growers better understand their harvest quality.

Here’s a lowdown of what this app offers:

Delivered and Edible Rates

Critical updates on delivered and edible percentages help growers assess harvest quality.

Crack-out Percentage

Insights on cracked nuts give an idea of spoilage rates and the need for special handling.

Loose Kernel Percentage

Loose kernel rates help understand the contamination risks as they’re exposed to elements.

Foreign Material (FM %)

FM % also helps identify how downgraded the nut quality is and if it’ll affect the market value.

Stick and Chip Percentages

Stick and chip percentages help assess the overall cleanliness of the nuts after harvesting.

Moisture Content

High moisture content helps indicate the shelf life of the crop and if it’s ready for market.

Inedible Percentage

Inedible percentage helps preserve yield quality by flagging substandard crops.

Closed Shell Bypass (CSB) Rates

CSB rates offer a deep understanding of partially split nuts that need further processing.

Weight Certification

Insights like weight cert give an understanding of the entire nut stock and shipment quantity.

Cumulative Insights

Cumulative totals provide the data-driven knowledge to fine-tune the nut production process.

PDF Reports for Harvest Planning

Auto-generated PDF reports compiling all the data give nut growers handy crop summaries.

Vital Metrics ‘in a Nutshell’

Endless crop metrics in a dashboard give nut growers the entire season’s story ‘in a nutshell.’