FairTrak: Flexible Labor Tracker

Electronic Hourly and Piecework Labor Tracking for Farm, Orchard, Vineyard, Greenhouse, and Nursery Operations

The FairTrak is a flexible tracking solution that allows the user to customize the type of data collected with a Ruggedized Handheld Computer (RHC). The FairTrak app provides the framework for electronically recording any number of hourly and piecework tasks. We designed the software to meet the needs of many different Ag operations

The RHC reads both RFID tags and 1D barcodes to accommodate many workflows. Every logged task receives a date and time stamp as well as GPS coordinates. The possibilities are endless—you’ll keep finding new ways to use FairTrak. Go paperless, keep organized digital records, and get the data you need to run payroll and make better farm management decisions. Read more, or contact us to learn why FairTrak is your Flexible Labor Tracking Solution.

Robust hardware. Flexible software. Powerful data!

FairTrak - A Flexible Tracking Solution

FairTrak is more than just a mobile time clock. Manage employees, piece rates, and other settings on your secure, online Customer Portal account.

During the day, clock employees in and out of hourly and piecework tasks using employee badges. Record information for minimum wage, job costing, and payroll calculations. Use FairTrak without internet or cellular connectivity all day.

At the end of the day, bring the units back to the office Wi-Fi and sync the data up to your online Portal account. Download the data in CSV (comma separated value) format to open in Microsoft Excel and import into your payroll software. Included in the small yearly, per unit software license fee are standard Daily and Pay Period Reports. These automatically-generated reports make doing payroll quick and easy. Still don't have the information you need? Ask about our custom reports. Fully automate data entry to reduce errors and decrease accounting costs.

The Software: Tasks, Lists, and List Items

  • Task: A Task is any job you want to track. Choose a Task type based on the information you need to record, whether that's hours, barcodes, or counts. You can add as many custom Tasks as needed to the FairTrak.

  • List: Create Lists to record additional information about a Task.

  • List Item: Under each List, add as many sub-items as needed.

General

  • Simple, paperless, fast, and accurate payroll

  • Searchable, digital records

  • RFID/barcode tracking for traceability

  • Use existing payroll software

  • Reports calculate hours worked and break times

  • Adaptable mobile time clock

  • User-created Tasks and Lists

  • Optional employee receipt printing

  • GPS coordinates confirm picking and pruning locations

  • Generate yield maps

  • Better data for job costing

  • Year to year comparisons for Improved operations management 

  • Quick and wireless data upload

  • No expensive data or cellular packages required

  • Real-time data capabilities with purchased cellular data package

  • Integrates with other 2nd Sight products

Legal Compliance

  • Reports calculate piece rate pay, flagging employees who do not meet minimum wage.

  • Tracks and records rest breaks, lunch breaks, and active hours worked.

  • Uses Cloud data storage for long-term recordkeeping.

For Pickers

  • Receive a fair wage for a fair day's work.

  • Use sturdy RFID cards instead of flimsy punch cards or unreadable barcodes.

  • Register produce picked with a quick scan of the employee badge over the reader.

  • Have the option to print receipts in the field and receive end of day receipts for their records.

For Bookeeping & Accounting Staff

  • Eliminate the hassle of organizing, reading, and entering information from punch cards at the end of each day.

  • Download Pay Period Reports in CSV format from the Portal to import into existing accounting and payroll software.

  • Search digital records at a later date to easily resolve pay disputes.

For Owner/Operators

  • Pay pickers for precise amount of time and piecework.

  • Create trust and transparency between pickers, crew bosses, and owners for a positive work environment to reduce staff turnover.

  • Use with current payroll software.

  • Meet labor standards with electronic time clock records.

  • View the Daily Report to get Total Wages, Total Weight, Total Hours, Average Pay Rate, and Average Wage calculations each day.

  • Easily generate reports to compare crop yield and other harvest data from year to year.

  • Create GPS yield maps using time and location data.

  • Reduce operating costs and increase the bottom line--for many growers, a one-year ROI!

Consumers want to know more about what they eat. The ability to track produce from the field to final consumer will become an industry standard. Many processors and packing houses continue to adopt systems that aid in produce traceability. However, for this tracing to be complete, growers must also implement systems to fully track their produce back to the date harvested, field, and picker. The ability to quickly generate accurate records of the who, what, and where, paired with the information to identify other potentially affected harvested produce, are important aspects of fruit and vegetable traceability.

In recent years, food born illness outbreaks have been linked to spinach, bagged salad, onions, peaches, romaine, and sprouts. When contaminated produce is detected by consumers and retailers, there is great value for the industry to be able to tell the full story of the affected product. Traceability systems can help maintain growers’ and processors’ reputations (curtailing negative consumer opinions about a particular crop), decrease the amount of produce inventory that will be discarded (minimizing waste and financial loss), and help with preventative measures that can be taken in the future. Produce tracking also helps keep consumers safe, reducing the number and gravity of food borne illness cases. When food tracking is poor, limited, or takes too long to "trace back" the product through the supply chain, the specialty crop industry as a whole suffers.

2nd Sight hardware and software packages focus on collecting farm labor data in the field. If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, field data is a critical piece of the traceability puzzle. While tracking labor data, our systems are also logging the first human contact with the fruits or vegetables. To stop contamination at the source, you must be able to identify the source. 

  • Date/time stamp: Every clock in, clock out, and log event is automatically tagged with a date and time so you know when employees performed specific jobs

  • GPS: The handhelds register GPS coordinates, when available, every time the software logs an event to help pinpoint a field location

  • Location: Growers can tag additional location information to specific jobs such as field name, block number, and row number

  • Crew: Crew lists can aid in identifying groups of employees who may have been linked to a specific food safety concern

  • Employee: Employees utilize RFID badges or barcodes programmed with their names to scan in and out of jobs and log pieces and produce harvested

  • Container Tracking: Many apps feature container tracking modes that prompt employees to scan RFID tags or barcodes adhered to buckets, totes, or bins out in the field to link produce to pickers more precisely

  • Digital Records: Quickly search and filter digital logs and reports by date, location, employee, crop variety, and container tracking ID to identify who, what, and where when produce safety issues arise

  • Accessible Information: Data is secure and backed up on the Cloud and can be accessed through any computer connected to the Internet

Digitalizing farm data enables a grower to collect important information accurately and efficiently, whether that be for running payroll or for pinpointing a food safety issue. Knowing that John Smith was sick and only picked on June 2nd in Blocks 2 and 3 means that only Honeycrisps from these blocks on that day should be pulled from processing is attainable insight for both small and large farming operations with our current technology.

Case Studies
Many blueberry and cherry growers in British Columbia, Canada received funding through the BC Traceability Grant program to help subsidize the cost of implementing 2nd Sight software and hardware because our systems improve produce traceability. 

Contact us to learn more about how simple it is to get started at your farm. Start benefitting from improved labor tracking and produce tracking whether you pay by hours, by piece, or by weight.

Example Data Set

Data Log Food Safety Traceability

Collect Data to Calculate

  • Hourly and piecerate wages

  • Break times and wages

  • Non-productive time and wages

  • Employee productivity

Crop Traceability

  • Track produce through the supply chain

  • Record pick location and date/time picked

  • Link produce picked to specific employees

  • Pinpoint quality and health concerns

Yield Monitoring and Mapping

  • Crop yield

  • Yield distributions

  • Pick rates

  • Harvest yield map

Hourly and Piecerate Labor Management

  • Record labor costs per task

  • Improved job costing

Ruggedized Handheld Computer

Ruggedized, portable computer that runs the FairTrak App.

Features

  • Water and drop-resistant design

  • Robust, sunlight-readable LCD touch screen

  • Up to eight-hours of battery life

  • Extra, swappable battery for extended workdays (purchased separately)

  • Integrated RFID and barcode scanner

  • Cellular SIM card option for real-time data collection

  • Charging dock (purchased separately)

  • Bluetooth printing capabilities (printer purchased separately)

FairTrak App

Android-based app used to collect labor data.

Features

  • Intuitive

  • Audio indicators

  • High-contrast buttons and icons

  • Automatic software updates from the Google Play Store

  • Employee receipt printing (optional)

Registration Station App

Software download for a Windows-based computer that programs employee RFID badges.

Features

  • Use your own Windows-based personal computer

  • Plug the RFID Reader/Writer into any standard USB port

  • Easy Registration Station app download

Customer Portal

Secure website where growers manage employees, tasks, lists, piece rates, uploaded data, reports, and other FairTrak settings.

Features

  • Import employee lists to save time

  • Create Employee Profiles to keep track of minimum wage and break information

  • Set and change piece rates for piecework tasks

  • Add additional Portal users with different admin roles

  • Easily filter data

  • Set a custom payroll period

  • View standard and custom reports and download them in CSV format

  • Edit, add, and delete field-collected data in the office