Overview
I led the development of ‘Batches’, a comprehensive environmental monitoring application for horticulture. Built with R Shiny, the application meticulously tracks every phase of plant growth, ensuring Health Canada compliance while aiming to increase crop yields.
Problem statement
The horticulture industry required a reliable system to monitor plant growth cycles and environmental conditions, ensuring adherence to Health Canada’s stringent compliance regulations. The absence of such a system could lead to suboptimal plant growth and potential regulatory breaches.
Objectives
- To monitor and record data across various plant growth cycles—propagation, vegetation, and flowering.
- To track environmental, nutrient, watering, and pesticide/spray application parameters.
- To create a centralized system for data analysis and reporting, facilitating Health Canada compliance.
- To generate PDF reports for efficient data distribution and record-keeping.
Approach and Implementation
- Developed user interfaces for data entry corresponding to different stages of plant growth.
- Created modules within the application for tracking production, environmental factors, nutrients, and watering schedules.
- Implemented a feature for recording pesticide and spray applications to ensure crop safety and compliance.
- Enabled PDF generation of data reports for easy dissemination and compliance documentation.
Challenges and Solutions
- Integrating various data streams into a cohesive dashboard was achieved through a modular design approach.
- Balancing user-friendliness with regulatory compliance was managed by iterative testing and user feedback.
