BASF - What the FRAC

Smart schedule checking for potato growing at BASF

In potato growing, correct product use is crucial. Not only to control diseases efficiently, but also to avoid resistance and stay fully within the regulations.

For advisers that means working with dozens of products, modes of action, exceptions and limits, often combined in schedules of up to twenty applications.

BASF came to IT Licious with a clear challenge: "turn that complexity into a simple, reliable decision aid."

The challenge

The rules around FRAC groups, alternation of modes of action and maximum applications are:

• substantively correct, but very complex
• hard to check quickly in the field
• error-prone when interpreted manually
• different depending on the number of applications
• riddled with exceptions (such as cymoxanil)

On top of that, the solution had to:

• be readable on mobile
• work in two languages (NL / FR)
• be commercially usable for BASF
• and above all: make it immediately clear whether a schedule is allowed or not

The approach

Together with BASF we translated all the rules, advice and product information into one smart web application, built in Flutter. The user composes a schedule by selecting products per application. The application then automatically does what normally takes a lot of time and expertise:

• checks all FRAC rules
• monitors maximums per mode of action
• checks alternation between applications
• takes exceptions into account
• and immediately shows whether the schedule is feasible

Green? You are good to go. Red? You immediately get correct alternatives.

No interpretation. No doubt. No risk.