Got milk? Open source technology takes to the dairy industry

South African dairy farmers have access to a custom-designed enterprise resource planning solution based on Sun Microsystems and open source technology with the development of a new system by Sun associate ACS Online.

Dairy farming takes place across SA. Because of the specific requirements of dairy farmers in terms of pasture and livestock management, and their particular financial requirements, the industry needed a "tailored" IT solution.

ACS Online supports the online system requirements for agricultural and financial consulting company, ACS Agricultural Consulting Services.

According to Sidney Badier, CIO of ACS Online, the company has developed a set of program modules that will assist farmers to manage dairy farms more profitably.

"Modules that are either currently available or in the final stages of development include Financial Management, Sustainable Pasture Management System, Livestock Management and a Performance Analysis module which uses balanced scorecard reporting techniques," he says.

Badier, a former head of IT architecture at South African Airways, notes that large enterprise-wide systems must be available on a 24/7 basis. "For me, this has always been synonymous with Sun technologies; hence we approached Sun Microsystems for assistance and have developed the solution on its hardware and the Solaris 9 operating system," he says.

Additionally, open source software used in the development of the solution includes Apache for the Web server, PHP as the application software and the MySQL enterprise database.

"The open source route has given us many advantages such as the undeniable performance capabilities of MySQL and PHP, while we have also been able to produce an application at a fraction of the cost of using proprietary software," continues Badier.

Sun Microsystems has been involved with the project from the initial planning stages, seconding both hardware and technical expertise to the development of the applications, says Margaret Shawcross, partner channel manager at Sun Microsystems Cape Town.

"Sun initially provided an E220 server, and then an Ultra 10 workstation as a development platform. We also provided some technical support around the development environment," she says.

Shawcross explains that Sun got involved in the project as it felt that this was an interesting and highly practical but specialised application area, which has not been given high attention in this country. "The farm management applications are something that Sun wanted to support because we are traditionally strong in scientific environments, so we believed this venture was just one way that we could help the farming community experience how IT can be a supportive tool for it."

Badier is particularly enthusiastic about the Sustainable Pasture Management System (SPS) module. "This has been live and available for almost two months now and already over 70 customers countrywide are successfully using the solution," he says.

The SPS module has been tailored to the requirements of the dairy farming industry with the excellent involvement of one of the project sponsors Marlene Terblanche, whom also acted as the senior business analyst. "Clearly, this is an important contributing factor to the success of the system; business processes specific to this industry have been built directly into the software," he says.

Farmers are able to capture their pasture data and generate vital graphs and reports immediately online using PCs connected to the Internet or handheld GPRS-enabled devices to access Internet services.

"Our customer base is spread throughout the country, with many stakeholders in areas that have very poor telecommunication infrastructure; the ability to capitalise on wireless communication delivers functionality that otherwise would not be available to them," Badier continues.

Furthermore, the technology allows data to be collected while offline, synchronising when a connection is available. This is particularly useful in areas with poor or intermittent Internet connectivity.

Angus Drummond, a consultant assisting farmers to use the system in the Underberg region, KwaZulu-Natal, says it is used on a daily basis by the farmers to enter pasture-related data and generate graphs and reports as required. "Using the technology, the farmers are able to establish how much grass is on each pasture, how fast it is being consumed by their cattle and, over time, it gives average rates. The variety of reports provides considerable insight, helping with grazing cycles, recording the fertiliser that goes into pasture and the resultant growth. It's a powerful tool to measure the efficiency of the pastures," he says.

Drummond adds that the technology is relatively easy to use, but notes that further improvements are being introduced continually.

With significant dairy farming activities in other countries including Australia and New Zealand, the CEO of ACS Consulting Jeff Every and other project sponsor Phillip Terblanche believe there is considerable export potential for the solution. "Thanks to the assistance of Sun Microsystems, we believe we have another winning solution from SA that we can take to the world," Badier concludes.

While Sun does not benefit directly from the application, Shawcross notes that the farming community does need further IT support. "Sun is well positioned to provide very cost-effective tools and solutions. We hope that having seen the ACS Web application, the farming community will be more confident in exploring where and how technology can help improve the efficiency and quality of information regarding their businesses," she says.

The other module that is currently in production is the FinComp module, which allows the farmer to assess the financial performance of his farm against the targets set by the consultants of ACS, as well as best performance standards for operations locally and internationally.

"In line with our strategy of offering a total online solution for a dairy farming operation, we will be going live with a further two modules live this year - one for herd management and then finally a module to report on the vitality of the farm using the balanced scorecard reporting techniques," Badier says.

Shawcross notes that all too often, big IT vendors focus only on the bigger companies in their marketplaces, overlooking the reality that smaller institutions and businesses need technology support and solutions too. "Until relatively recently, every small business had little alternative to going the PC and Microsoft route. However, Sun has come a long way in the last two years and can offer excellent entry-level systems and very reliable technology well suited to the smaller business.

"Equally, SA has become very focused on open source, something that together with open standards, Sun has been committed to for many years. The reality is that there are some highly cost-effective alternatives available today," she concludes.