The need to improve compliance, optimize staff management and streamline farming costs has prompted a new technology start-up to address productivity issues that cost the primary sector more than £1 billion per year.

JobDone is a new cloud-based farm management software that has been developed to help farmers save time and money, and that could have major cost-saving implications across the agriculture industry. It was founded by Nigel Taylor, a fourth-generation farmer from New Zealand
JobDone was born out of Mr. Taylor’s first-hand experience with the difficulty of running a successful farming business. With 17 years’ experience as a dairy farmer, Mr. Taylor operates multiple farms with 1,000 cows and six full-time and two part-time staff. His biggest cost is his wage bill, while staying on top of compliance is what keeps him up at night.

“In speaking to others in the industry, it was reassuring to know that I was not the only farm operator feeling the pressure, but it also inspired me to think about a practical solution that could help us all with productivity and compliance,” he says.

“Like many farmers I work long days on the farm and nights managing the business. Without the time or tools to track and manage staff and tasks, I have relied on whiteboarding sessions with my team. The trouble is that this only works for task allocation – I don’t know if my staff have encountered problems, when a task is completed, or where they are or what they’re working on at any given time. Having a real-time view of all farm operations will save me hours out of my day and give me peace of mind that my farm is compliant.”

From inception, Mr. Taylor has sought and established partnerships with industry leaders to ensure that the infrastructure behind JobDone offers a premium and reliable solution for the industry. Business software innovator JAVLN has been working intensively with Mr. Taylor for the past 18 months, and JAVLN CEO Dale Smith is so confident of the software’s success that he has joined JobDone’s board. Leading New Zealand businessman and managing director of Tui Products Ltd, Don Forgie, has taken on the role of Chairman of JobDone.

“Though demand, which dictates our market, is out of our control, we can control how we run our farming businesses,” Mr. Taylor says. “We identified a largely untapped opportunity to implement smart solutions on the farm to save time and money and improve compliance. This is where JobDone comes in.”

JobDone is a complete farm productivity solution that is designed to improve profitability and compliance through timesheet, task management, record management, H&S and reporting.

Based on an average business of 4 labour units at £8 per hour, working seven days a week, it is estimated that the use of JobDone can help a farming business save £5,800 per year in labour costs.

Based on this average saving, Great Britain’s 12800 dairy farms1 alone could stand to save more than £98 million per year. With a total of approximately 217,000 farms of varying types (dairy, sheep and beef, arable, deer, pig, poultry, and others, including forestry) and varying labour units, the potential labour cost savings for business owners across the agricultural sector could exceed £1 billion.

Robert Hassall, General Manager of Handley Enterprises is the UK Distributor for JobDone. Robert visited the JobDone stand at the NZ National Fieldays at Mystery Creek. Robert has a wealth of experience in the UK Agricultural Industry and he could see the potential for JobDone in Great Britain using technology to create productivity for all forms of agriculture.

Farmers can sign up for a free one-month trial of JobDone at www.jobdoneapp.co.uk Following the one-month trial, pricing starts from £35 per month for use of the software.

JobDone offers:
• Efficient people and task management in real-time;
• Connect with your team anywhere anytime.
• Excellent communication with the farm notice board easily includes all of the team on the important day to day
• A cloud-based platform for simple access via a computer, smartphone or tablet.
• Intuitive easy to use app in both Apple IOS & Android formats with the capability to work offline in out of coverage areas.
• Quick and timely decision-making – saving farm operators time and money in managing staff; Dairy Farm Numbers calculated using latest data from ADHB, SAC and DAERA

• Multi Farm management with Standard Operating Procedures, Intuitive Dashboards and reporting tools.
• Organised record management to review and improve staff and farm productivity;
• The ability to assist with compliance with The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999