PastureBase Ireland – New Developments & Creating a Milk Link

This week close to 1,000 farm grass covers were completed on PastureBase Ireland (PBI). Weekly monitoring farm grass covers is an essential part of good grassland management at this time of year.

Teagasc set up PastureBase Ireland as a web based grassland measurement database for farmers. It merged with AgriNet Grass as part of a strategic step forward for Irish farmers in grassland management. Over the past number of months AgriNet Grass users are being transferred to PBI with the objective of having just one grassland database for all grassland farmers. While acknowledging that this is a significant change for AgriNet Grass users, it will be of benefit to all grassland farmers in Ireland.

Currently PBI is undergoing a number of developments to make it more farmer friendly. The objective in the long term is to make PBI much better with new added tools. The following are significant developments being completed:

1. A new invitations section allows users to share their data with other farmers/discussion groups and advisors. This section was subject to new data protection guidelines, so for all AgriNet Grass users, all old linkages need to be recreated in PBI.
2. he milk data link with Glanbia is now live. It is hoped by year end, that all co-ops will have this facility available to farmers.
3. The projected grass wedge and planner have been released to the system.
4. An Android offline app will be released the first week of June and the offline iOS app will be available two weeks later in mid-June. PBI can be used if internet is available, however on many farms this is not the case. The new app will speed up data entry for farmers out in the field.

Both Teagasc and Agrinet Grass would like to thank the participating farmers for their patience in getting the migration process completed; the new data protection regulations held up this process at different stages. The release of the projected wedge and planner today and offline app in the next few weeks, should greatly aid farmers in the recording of grass covers, graze dates, fertiliser application and milk data offline. The use of the offline app was probably underestimated in the development of PBI; many farmers use this tool and it clearly highlights the lack of good internet access on many farms.

In early June a number meetings will be held with grassland farmers to plan further developments of PBI to improve the usability of the system. PastureBase Ireland has a dedicated helpdesk where there are a number of tutorial videos available on how to use different options. The website can be visited at www.pbi.ie for more information, or email [email protected]

Creating a Milk Link with Glanbia Ireland DAC

• Log into www.pbi.ie
• Go to ‘Milk Sales’ option on the left hand menu

• Click on ‘Manage Milk Data Link’

• Select ‘Glanbia’ from the Co-op drop down list and enter your supplier number (7 digits).
• Select ‘Continue’

• When a Supplier wishes to create a link with the Data Discloser, they enter their Supplier number and click on ‘Continue’
• The Authorisation Form below is then displayed to the Supplier
• If the Supplier wishes to continue they must accept the statement by selecting the ‘I accept’ option
• If the Supplier does not want to continue any further they can click on ‘Cancel’

• The screenshot below shows where the Supplier has accepted the Authorisation Form and they become the Data Subject
• Note that the ‘Submit to Glanbia Ireland DAC’ is now visible
• If the Supplier does not want to continue they can click on ‘Cancel’

• A file is then sent to the Glanbia Customer Support Team and they will make contact with the farmer to verify they want to share their data in PastureBase Ireland. Breaking the link between Glanbia Ireland DAC and PBI
• Once the Data link is created the Data Subject will have the option to break this link any time

• Here the Data Subject can break the link by selecting ‘Opt Out’, see below

• After selecting ‘Opt Out’ the Data Subject has three options;

1. Break the link and keep all historical records by selecting ‘Submit to Glanbia’;
2. Break the link and delete all historical records by selecting ‘I wish to have all my existing Milk Data deleted’ and ‘Submit to Glanbia’; or
3. Or cancel the breaking of the milk link by selecting ‘Cancel’.

• Along with this functionality, the Data Subject can, at any stage, delete/update the milk data held locally on the PastureBase Platform.

For further information please consult the help section of the PastureBase Ireland website here

First Published 29 May 2018