Agronomy packs in Gatekeeper
An agronomy pack is a container which holds two or more pesticide products, each of which have their own individual MAPP numbers. It is not the same as a twinpack and so must be handled differently in Gatekeeper.
Because the component products of an agronomy pack are often applied at different rates, but the pack itself is the unit handled by ordering systems, it was necessary to create a new unit in Gatekeeper specifically for agronomy packs.
The unit of measurement for agronomy packs in Gatekeeper is a hectare dose. A ha dose would contain the corresponding rates of each component product to treat a hectare at full rate. An example is shown here:
An agronomy pack contains:
5 litres of Product A, applied at 0.6l/ha
10 litres of Product B, applied at 1.2l/ha
The pack contains enough product to treat 8.3ha.
To apply product at full rate, the job rate is 1 ha dose/ha.
The pack size is 8.3 ha dose.
Therefore, to treat a 15ha field at full rate, you would need 2 packs.
If you wish to reduce the ha dose rate, the Agrilator may be used to assist in rate calculations.
Creating a recommendation with an agronomy pack in
Agronomy packs should be picked into a job in the same way as any other pesticide product. When the agronomy pack is added to a job, its rate will be entered against the unit ha dose - a rate of 1ha dose is equal to 100% of the dose rate of the component products.
When the job is created, the job screen will appear as normal. The agronomy pack will show, with its rate in ha dose.
💡A job with an agronomy pack in will display an ‘Unpack’ button on the job tab while the agronomy pack is selected. Clicking ‘Unpack’ would cause both component products to display with their individual rates, but please be aware that an unpacked agronomy pack cannot be used in any ordering systems connected to Gatekeeper.
To view the component products and their rates, ensure the agronomy pack is the selected product, and go to the ‘Products’ tab:
Agronomy packs and the Agrilator
The Agrilator is an agricultural rate conversion tool which is available throughout Gatekeeper. When accessed from a recommendation which contains agronomy packs, it can also be used to help you convert between rates of the component products to ha dose rates. To adjust product rates, click on the Agrilator icon (shown above). The Agrilator may be used in the following ways:
Adjust application rate (ha dose) to see the corresponding change in product rates
Adjust one of the product rates to see the corresponding change in ha dose and therefore number of packs required.
Clicking Refresh rates will recalculate product and application rates according to the information entered
If you wish to adjust the job’s target rate to reflect the figures entered, click ‘Use Rates’. If you do not wish to adjust the job rate, click ‘Cancel’ to exit the Agrilator.
Agronomy Packs in work sheets
When a recommendation or job sheet is created for a job including an agronomy pack, the pack name and its component products will be displayed, including product rates:
Trading and Orders
Agronomy packs are sold in a size that will treat a number of hectares when applied at 100% rate. In the example above, the job requires enough product to treat 14ha.
The agronomy pack contains Peqtiga (10l) and Helix (5l). The 100% rate is 2l/ha Peqtiga and 1l/ha Helix, so each pack contains enough product to treat 5ha at 100% rate. The order created will therefore be for 3 agronomy packs (3x 5ha packs = 15ha worth of product to supply).
When creating an order for agronomy packs that will be sent to on ordering system that is connected to Gatekeeper, it is essential that the order is made by pack and uses the correct pack size.
If ordering systems are being used, or you wish to create a report document which includes the number of packs required, the order fulfilment method cannot be either of the first two options (as these disregard packs).
An order can only display the correct number of packs required if the product has been setup correctly with the pack size.
Adding agronomy packs to catalogues
Agronomy packs cannot be added manually to the system by catalogue managers – they must be added to the Sentinel database. If you require an agronomy pack that is not currently available, please contact the support team who will be able to take further details as required.
When an agronomy pack is added to a site or organisation catalogue, the user will need to know the physical pack size and the area that it will treat at 100% rate.
For the Peqtiga + Helix pack used in the examples above:
Pack includes 10l of Peqtiga and 5l of Helix.
100% rate is 2l/ha Peqtiga and 1l/ha Helix.
Pack holds enough of each product to treat 5ha – the pack has enough product for 5 ha dose units.
It would therefore be entered into a catalogue with a pack size of 5 ha doses:
A second example could be Peqtiga + Variano Xpro:
Pack includes 7.5l of Peqtiga and 5l of Variano Xpro.
100% rate is 2l/ha Peqtiga and 1.33l/ha Variano Xpro
Pack holds enough of each product to treat 3.75ha – the pack has enough product for 3.75 ha dose units.
It would therefore be entered into a catalogue with a pack size of 3.75 ha doses:
