The Profit Impact Simulator for the Horticultural Farm



SIGCHA



App under development



Horticultural production is not only bio-diversified but also varying in terms of the days to maturity of its crops (dimensions absent in other kinds of agricultural activities). This represents an additional level of complexity in the capital's temporal structure. Furthermore, its characteristic seasonality constitutes another crucial attribute of the indicated structure.


The traditional methods for profitability analysis, due lacking to grasp the temporal dimension of the business, the capital rotation, do not deliver an economic diagnosis precise enough.



Through getting in touch with farmers throughout the country we have verified that they do not currently have tools that allow them to acquire an exhaustive outlook of all the variables that affect their business, nor to simulate and evaluate different possible scenarios according to their economic result. This sets a boundary towards the possibility to make the best decisions and plan future projects.



Using a tool like the SIGCHA contributes to an in-depth comprehension of the sector's reality and an improvement in the decision-making process both in the corporate ambit and in the public organisations in charge of promoting and developing this activity.


Furthermore, its employment can add to the identification of the (in)compatibilities between the economic, technical and environmental optimums in the short, medium and long term, which stands as an unavoidable step towards planning their development.



We are nowadays working with the workers' cooperative "La Foresta". Thanks to our joint work we have been able to enhance the SIGCHA's performance and functioning. In order to achieve this, their members have participated in one of our introductory courses on the Profit Impact Simulator (SIG) and on economic planning theory.


MEET LA FORESTA

A FIRST APPROACH TO THE SIGCHA





  • The SIGCHA is a planning and economic simulation software that allows the horticultural farmer to:

- Plan its crop calendar, easily visualising the territory's distribution.


- Estimate the amounts of production available for commercialization during the following months.


- Calculate the input-requirements


- Model the wage payments.


- Plan investments for machinery and/or new production techniques.


- Evaluate the convenience of receiving credits.


- Foresee incomes and expenses throughout the period of time assessed and have a compact perspective of the business.


  • The potential of the SIGCHA relies on the possibility to simulate different scenarios (for diverse periods of time) by means of taking into consideration modifications on any of the available variables. The software processes all the information related to each possible scenario in order to compare them through different economic indicators that are displayed in a compact dashboard.


SOME SIGCHA SCREENS





MAIN SCREEN OF RESULTS "SIG"



The main dashboard of the SIGCHA, where all the information previously uploaded in other tabs is condensed and the most important economic indicators are displayed.



CROPS CALENDAR



Screen dedicated to visualise how the different crops are assigned in terms of their sow-harvest dates and rows of land employed. It can be effortlessly seen which rows are occupied throughout each week, with their corresponding crops being differentiated with a colour.



HARVEST



Screen in which the amount of production harvested each week is exhibited, with each crop being differentiated with a colour.



DAILY TASKS



Depending on the production plan chosen, the SIGCHA delivers an interactive calendar with the weekly assignments that need to be executed within the management unit.



WHAT ARE WE WORKING ON IN ORDER TO UPGRADE THE SIGCHA?





Besides constantly reviewing and improving those elements that deliver a better user-experience, we seek to incorporate new features and functionalities that will empower the potential of the App.


Some of our latest news and most promising developments are:



SIGCHA APP



An upgrade of the SIGCHA towards a mobile and PC App.



OPTIMIZER



The inclusion of a software capable of maximising the SIGCHA's profit rate.​



CREDIT AND INVESTMENTS



Simulating the allocation of available funds to different bank-related financial instruments.​



SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS



Detecting those parameters whose variation have a major -or minor- impact on the economic result of the business.



ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS



Simulating scenarios more (or less) optimistic, according to both the weather and the soil conditions that may be faced during the year.​



LARGE DATABASES CONNECTIVITY



The interaction and statistical processing of technical and financial external databases.



CURRENT INFORMATIC VERSION OF THE MODEL





​For the time being, the model is developed using the Microsoft Excel platform and enhanced by other Microsoft Office tools such as Visual Basic, Power Query and Power Pivot. It remains of easy and intuitive use even for those who have no knowledge about Excel.