Arable Matters: The pros and cons of digital

And, certainly for most of us, while a driverless tractor or the latest combine might be light years out of our budget, there’s bound to be some advancement on display which is enough to get us wondering how we could manage to integrate the latest pieces of electronic gadgetry and the artificial intelligence-inspired computer algorithms behind them into our own businesses.

So, with the sector’s desire for digital being so evident and its reputation for being speedy adopters of the latest technologies, I can’t help but find myself being a bit bemused by the level of scepticism we seem to have over the introduction of electronic grain passports – especially so in light of the enthusiastic demands from cattle keepers made earlier this week calling for the speedy introduction of UHF electronic EID tags for their stock.

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Host of benefits

The move away from paper grain passports to their digital equivalent has been the subject of discussions for more than a dozen years. And between 2012 and 2017, the AHDB spent a reported £400,000 researching the use of e-passports – and the pilot scheme it ran showed that the concept offered a whole host of benefits to the industry, for both sellers and buyers.

But when it came to the crunch back in 2018, some of the buyers decided that entering wholeheartedly into such a scheme might compromise too much of what they considered to be confidential information – and so, despite the huge potential, the idea was shelved.

And, to be fair, at the time there was probably a wee bit of justifiable reticence from the growers’ side as well – with some pointing to connectivity issues in the countryside and the ability of farmers and lorry drivers to cope with the technical aspects.

But now a few years down the line, connectivity has (mainly!) improved in rural areas – and we’re all getting more used to coping with the software, programmes and apps which now form part of daily life as well as having had more practice at overcoming any issues which might arise.

It was a bit of surprise, therefore, when back in 2022, when the idea had been floated once again, NFU Scotland was among those putting the kibosh on the idea, indicating that the then-proposed system was suffering from the sort of mission creep which looked like turning what was a simple idea into a bit of a logistical monster.

Back then, there were also some considerable misgivings over the cost of introducing and running the scheme – as well as to who would actually bear the brunt of these additional costs.

Pump-priming

But the digital passport idea didn’t seem to get the hint and has been back again – twice this year. Under the latest set of proposals, it now looks like the business case is reliant on government funding to provide a pump-priming exercise for the first few years – with the expectation that after three years, there would need to be additional funding from the levy body, AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds.

It’s difficult to draw out the figures exactly but it looks like they’re predicting the system currently being proposed will cost in the region of £6.5m over the first 10 years, with the expectation that government grants will fund the initial set-up and early running costs of just under £3m. So, £2.33m of AHDB levy, along with around £1.25m from other sectors, is estimated to be the industry’s costs over the 10-year period – and the cost benefit analysis for growers shows that savings in various areas will mean a return of £1.66 for every £1 invested.

There’s no doubt it would be good to know the quality tests of grain going into the store before another three lorries had been loaded for the same destination, possibly saving us thousands of pounds if there were any problems. It would also allow growers to contest any unexpected results while samples were still fresh and the grain still in the lorry.

National standard

And while many grain companies have, in recent years, set up their own systems for offering faster feedback on the test results of loads of grain which have been delivered, a lot of them sometimes don’t quite live up to expectations – and I can’t help but feel that it would be a good idea if they all worked to a national standard, one to which growers had some input.

From the buyers, an electronic system would not only offer faster data flow but also the ability to offer a far greater degree of transparency and traceability, along with a guarantee of provenance on the produce which they handled.

But while all these many benefits might be undeniable, nagging doubts still lingered earlier this year that the primrose path leading to electronic passports might not be the bed of roses we are being led to expect – and so the most recent attempt at resuscitating the idea has focused on answering these lingering doubts.

For there were considerable fears that there was a real risk that rather than making the information required for the e-passport as simple and straightforward as possible, it would be way too easy for the idea to succumb to the dreaded curse of mission creep – and tie us in further to passing important data and information on about the sustainability and other measures we adopt down the line in order for other sectors of the supply chain to reap the financial rewards. That is always a danger.

Brazen theft

However, crucial though it might be that such brazen theft of our hard-earned credentials is addressed, as the terms of some contracts show, it’s not an issue that is necessarily tied to the form of passports used.

But, as the outcome of the consultation completed earlier in the year showed, growers still remained unconvinced of any overall benefit to the adoption of electronic passports.

However, despite being given the cold shoulder once again, rather than putting the idea out to grass, the AHDB asked the grain sector for a list of the major drawbacks and questions which still lacked a satisfactory answer. And they’ve just published the answers in a bid to move things forward once again.

This includes what sort of support will be available to help growers adjust and how they can address any problems which might arise. For while the AHDB says it already operates a help desk to support a range of sector services including the pig industry’s electronic movement licences, we’ve probably all enjoyed the frustrations at some stage of trying to get hold of someone to help with the problem over the phone.

The help desk is comprised of five full-time call/email handlers and a manager – and the plan is to add two full-time people to this team, stating that all team members will be trained to support the digital passport, so there will be seven people available to support at peak times.

‘Your call is important to us…’

Hmmm, you can just hear the phrase ‘Your call is important to us…’ stepping swiftly in our direction. And to be fair, history has shown that the introduction of new computer systems in the farming sector seldom does much to inspire confidence.

Under the most recent reincarnation, the transition from paper to digital – from the start of beta testing to the end of paper passport usage – is planned to be 27 months, with businesses switching to digital throughout that period.

It is recognised that grain intakes do not operate on a 9-5, five days a week basis, so a pattern of extended hours will be agreed with industry which will flex through the season and be extended further during harvest. The call centre technology allows the team to closely monitor the timing of calls and emails, meaning that extra resources can be made available if it’s shown, for example, that there’s a regular daily peak at 8am.

But – and this is pretty crucial – the group drawing up the responses has made it clear that reverting to a blank paper passport, like the ones used today, will not be an option in emergencies.

There’s also a promise that planned maintenance events will be rare as it is proposed to use technology which allows new deployments without taking the system offline. Any required planned maintenance will take place overnight or at weekends in time windows agreed with industry.

Hackers and ransom attacks

It’s also claimed that having geographically diverse servers working the central operating system should virtually eliminate any chance of any major breakdown in functionality – and measures have also been promised to minimise the chance of it being exposed to hackers or ransom attacks. There are several pages outlining all the questions and answers on the AHDB website – and it’s a bit like reading the terms and conditions before unthinkingly ticking the ‘agree’ box.

But while the cursor hovers over the digital box, it might be worth checking these out.