Agronomist monitoring pests with tablet in the crop

5 min read Agronomy & Field

Did your PCAs actually walk the orchard? The End of "Windshield Scouting"

There is a common saying in agriculture: "The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." But when you have 1,000 acres spread across 3 counties, the "shadow" is not enough. You depend on your PCAs (Pest Control Advisors) and Scouts.

The problem arises when Friday arrives and you receive a pile of messy, illegible paper reports, or worse, data filled out "from memory" in the office. How do you know if the scout really entered Block 4 at 11:00 AM or if they did a "Windshield Scouting" from the comfort of the truck's A/C?

The Cost of Operational Blindness

A Spider Mite or Thrips infestation can double its population in a matter of 48 hours with summer heat. If your report arrives 3 days late, the damage is already done. You go from being able to do a preventive application (focused and cheap) to having to do a curative shock application (generalized and extremely expensive).

The "WhatsApp Chaos" in Modern Agriculture

Many agribusinesses believe they are digitized because they have a WhatsApp group called "Field Team". This is a mistake. WhatsApp is great for quick chats, but terrible for managing a company:

❌ Unstructured Information: A photo of a fungus gets lost among memes and "Good morning" messages.
❌ No Traceability: Who saw that pest? When? In exactly which row? That information is lost.
❌ Dead Data: You cannot pull a historical chart of pest pressure from a chat log for your EPA report.

The Solution: Digital Scouting & Spray Records

Digitizing the technical department is not a luxury, it is the only way to implement true Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and comply with State Regulations. With the Hispatec Scouting App (See Demo), you transform your PCA's iPad into a scientific tool.

Inviolable Geolocation

Every pest report saves the exact GPS coordinate and time stamp. If the report was made from the highway or the scout's house, the map will tell you. Guarantees that the rows were actually walked.

Photographic Evidence

Did they find Powdery Mildew? Don't just tell me, take a picture. The image uploads to the cloud linked to the specific acre, allowing external advisors to give their remote opinion.

From Detection to Action: The Digital Workflow

This is how a modern farm works when it detects a threat:

The Finding: The Scout detects Whitefly in Block 3, Row 20. Registers "Medium Pressure" in the App. Takes a photo.

The Alert: The Farm Manager receives an instant notification on their tablet. Sees the heat map: the focus is localized, not generalized.

The Prescription (PCA Recommendation): Instead of spraying the whole ranch, the PCA writes a digital recommendation only for Block 3. Selects the product (checking PHI/REI) and the rate.

The Execution: The tractor driver receives the Work Order on their phone. Knows exactly where to go. Upon completion, clicks "Finish". The Spray Record is automatically generated for EPA/County reporting.

Comparison: Paper vs. Scouting App

Activity	Traditional (Paper/Text) 📄	Scouting App (ERPagro) 📲
Data Capture	Slow, illegible handwriting	Fast, predefined drop-downs
Trend Analysis	Impossible (data trapped on paper)	Automatic charts & Heatmaps
Visit Validation	Blind trust	GPS Proof (Auditable)
Legal Compliance	Transcribe to Excel for County Report	Spray Records ready for audit

Success Story: Trops and Collective Intelligence 🥑

Trops is a massive cooperative of avocado and mango producers in Europe (handling thousands of acres). The challenge was huge: How to unify the technical criteria of so many individual growers?

The answer was digitization. By using the Hispatec App, the Trops technician visits a partner's farm, registers observations, and the grower receives recommendations in real-time ("Irrigation needed", "Apply Potassium"). This eliminated misunderstandings and standardized fruit quality across the board.

See how Trops connects the technician with the farmer in real-time.

Frequently Asked Questions about Digital Scouting

Does it work if there is no cell signal in the field?

This is the most important question. And the answer is YES. The Hispatec App works in 100% Offline mode. The PCA captures everything in the field, photos and GPS are saved on the iPad/Phone, and everything syncs to the cloud automatically as soon as it detects Wi-Fi or 4G signal.

Does it help reduce chemical costs?

Definitely. By detecting infection hotspots early and geolocated, you can do "spot" applications (only where needed) instead of spraying the entire crop. Our clients report savings of 15% to 20% in input purchases.

Regain control of your field

Stop guessing what is happening in your lots. Have eyes in every row and validate your technical team's work.

Request Scouting Demo