Commercializing TracCropsTM

A platform that streamlines pesticide application record-keeping and reporting by producers to farmworkers, agencies, buyers, and certifiers.

Moonshot Award

Product and Company Development

Abstract

Accurate chemical input records in food production are indispensable in today’s markets. Reports must be produced on demand: as required by law, for buyers and processors, and to fulfill certification audits. Our specialty crops producers need easy-to-use software for crop input records and reports. TracCrops fulfills this need. We will finalize development and release of the TracCrops platform and incorporate a TracCrops university spin-out company to commercialize it. We have built and integrated an AI pesticide database, the Trac Database, into TracCrops. TracCrops incorporates improvements to Trac Software©, licensed through Cornell CTL ctl.cornell.edu/industry/trac-software/, that inventor Dr. Carroll has assembled through decades-long collaborations with specialty crops growers, buyers, processors, and government agencies. With 30 stakeholders we will accomplish beta testing of TracCrops to refine the commercial software and prepare it for v1.0 release. 

Customer discovery, without revealing TracCrops, found that 70% of the growers and buyers interviewed would use digital software to address the pain points of spray record-keeping with the main motivators being saving time, securing markets, and keeping workers and consumers safe. TracCrops has good market prospects and will foster immediate, documented, on-farm communication and promote the safety of operations.