How to use Rowbook

Getting started

Setting up takes about 10 minutes. Have your block names, acres and crops handy.

1. Create your account

1. Scan the QR code on your pilot card, or go to farm.techybyte.ca.
2. Tap Create an account.
3. Enter your first name, last name, email and a password of at least 10 characters.
4. If you have a pilot code, check it's in the Pilot code box. The QR code fills it in for you.
5. Tap Create account.

2. Set up your farm

Choose Set up my farm. Want to look around first? Choose Explore with a sample orchard instead. It's a separate example farm you can delete later.

1. Farm details: farm name, location, whether you're registered for GST, and the date your books start.
2. Blocks & crops: one line per block, with a short code (like A1), acres, crop and variety.
3. Rows & zones: how many rows each block has, and how you split them into zones (for example North, rows 1 to 32).
4. Food safety: answer a few questions about how your farm works. Rowbook then shows only the CanadaGAP forms that apply to you.
5. Review: check everything, then tap Create farm.

You can change any of this later.

3. Put Rowbook on your phone's home screen

• iPhone: open farm.techybyte.ca in Safari, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
• Android: open it in Chrome, tap the ⋮ menu, then Add to Home screen or Install app.
• Computer: bookmark the page, or use Chrome's install icon at the right end of the address bar.

Finding your way around

On a phone, the main screens are in the bar at the bottom; the rest are under More. On a computer, they're in the menu on the left.

• + New adds any record: a spray, a food safety check, hours, a task, a sale and more.
• Scan reads a Rowbook QR code. Scan a row tag to see if that row is safe to enter, or a bin tag to see where the fruit came from.

Recording a spray

Each spray record holds what CanadaGAP and your buyers ask for: product, PCP number, rate, area, applicator, equipment and weather.

Add your spray products first

1. Go to Sprays and tap Add product.
2. In Find in Health Canada's registry, type the product name or its PCP number from the label.
3. Tap the right product. Rowbook fills in the name, PCP number and active ingredient, and shows whether it's registered.
4. Enter the REI (re-entry interval, in hours) and PHI (pre-harvest interval, in days). These are on the label, not in the registry.
5. Tap Save item.

Record the spray

1. Tap + New, then Spray record.
2. Pick the block and tick the zones you sprayed.
3. Pick the product, then fill in the rate per acre, water volume, target pest or disease, equipment, applicator and weather.
4. Check the summary at the bottom. It shows the total product used, and when re-entry and harvest are allowed again.
5. Tap Save spray record.

The product comes out of stock automatically, and its cost goes to that block.

Re-entry and pre-harvest restrictions

• No entry: the re-entry interval hasn't ended. Keep crews out.
• No picking: people can enter, but the pre-harvest interval hasn't ended.
• Clear: safe to enter and pick.

You'll see this on Today, on Blocks, and when anyone scans a row tag. Rowbook also warns you if you start a harvest too early.

Food safety records

The Food safety screen is your CanadaGAP checklist. It only shows the forms that apply to your farm, based on your setup answers.

Do what's due

Due now lists the checks that need doing: weekly cleaning logs, yearly assessments and your annual mock recall. Tap Log, Complete or Start next to each one, fill in the short form, and save.

Common daily checks are also under + New: Washroom check (Form J), Visitor sign-in (Form L), Equipment cleaning (Form I), Report a problem (Form R) and Scouting note.

Yearly assessments, sign-off and the audit binder

• Under Yearly assessments, tap Complete on each one once a year.
• Tap Review and sign all to sign off your records. Your typed name and the date count as your signature.
• Before an audit, tap Audit binder, pick the dates and print. Choose Save as PDF to keep a copy or email it to your auditor. The binder never includes your money records.

If you change how your farm works, update your answers under Food safety → Farm profile.

Harvest and traceability

QR tags link every bin to the block and rows it came from, who picked it, the sprays on that block, and the truck it left on.

1. Print your tags

Go to Labels, choose what to print and tap Print: Row tags and Block signs for row ends, New bin tags for bins, and Equipment tags or Worker badges if you use them. Weatherproof labels last longest outdoors.

2. Scan bins as they fill

1. Tap + New, then Harvest bins.
2. Pick the block and rows, the picker and the packaging. Confirm you've checked the site, then start.
3. Scan each bin's tag as it's filled. Rowbook stops you if a tag is scanned twice.
4. Tap Finish.

3. Load out

1. Tap + New, then Load out.
2. Enter where the load is going, and tick the six truck inspection items.
3. Scan each bin as it goes on the truck, then tap Finish.

4. Trace a bin and run a mock recall

On Food safety, open Trace and recall and type or scan a bin tag to see its block, sprays, picker and customer. Once a year, tap Start mock recall and follow the steps.

Your crew

1. Ask them to create their own Rowbook account first.
2. Open Account, then under People on this farm enter their email.
3. Choose Crew or Owner, then tap Add person.

• Add task (under + New): describe the work, the block, who does it and when it's due.
• Log hours (under + New): pick the worker, block and hours. Wages are costed to that block.

Stock, sales and books

Your books fill in on their own as you record purchases, sprays, hours and sales.

• Record purchase: pick a stock item to add it to stock, or an expense type for bills like repairs or fuel.
• Apply input: fertilizer, fuel or seed used on a block. Pesticides go in a spray record instead.
• Record sale: crop, customer, quantity, price, and whether it's paid now or on account. Most fresh fruit and vegetables are zero-rated for GST.
• Books (owners only): profit and loss by block, balance sheet, trial balance, GST return, bills and the journal.

Working without signal

Everything you record is saved on your phone and sent to Rowbook when you're back in range. The badge at the top shows where things stand:

Don't sign out while changes are waiting to send, or they'll be lost from that phone.

Account, privacy and help

Open Account from your initials at the top right (on a computer, your name at the bottom left). It shows your plan, the people on your farm, appearance settings and sign out.

• Your records are stored on Rowbook's server in Canada. Only people you add to your farm can see them.
• Rowbook staff can see how much you use the app, but not what's in your records.
• Need help with a problem? Turn on Let Rowbook support see my records in Account. It switches off after 7 days, and every look is listed in your support log.
• Tap Send feedback to tell us about a problem or an idea. It goes straight to the people building Rowbook.

Quick answers