Electronic register of plant protection product use — what it is and when it was expected to apply
In recent years, there has been growing pressure to better organise data on the use of plant protection products (PPPs) — driven by food safety, environmental protection, and the need for stronger oversight and harmonised documentation across the EU. As a result, farms have been moving from "paper spray logs" to a single, digital register of plant protection product use, maintained in a format suitable for automated processing. In FarmPortal — our farm management system — we track these obligations and implement the functionalities required for reporting.
Why this change — the EU context
At the European level, the requirements for the content and format of documentation kept by professional users of plant protection products have been clarified. The direction is clear: records should be maintained electronically (in a machine-readable format) and within a standardised scope of data.
From an implementation standpoint, the commonly referenced milestone was the start of application from 1 January 2026.
When the requirement was expected to apply in Poland
As of mid-2025, the widely communicated direction in Poland aligned with the European timeline: an obligation to keep records electronically from 1 January 2026, supported by a system-based approach enabling farmers to report treatments in a standardised way.
What data the register was expected to include
In practice, this meant recording at least the following information, among others:
- plant protection product (product name and permit/authorisation identifier),
- date (time) of the treatment,
- applied dose/quantity,
- crop,
- treated area and location/field identification where the treatment was carried out.
The operational assumption was also that treatments should be recorded without undue delay, and if the initial record was created in a form other than the required electronic format, it should be transferred into the electronic format no later than 30 days after the product was applied.
How FarmPortal supports electronic plant protection product record-keeping
FarmPortal is a Farm Management System (FMS) and crop safety monitoring platform where plant protection treatment logging is part of everyday field work — not an additional "evening paperwork" obligation.
In the context of electronic record-keeping, FarmPortal supports users, among others, through:
A database of authorised plant protection products
FarmPortal maintains a database of plant protection products authorised for marketing/use, which makes product selection easier and reduces the risk of formal errors (e.g., in product names or permit identifiers). The system can automatically filter products by crop type, withholding period, application window, and reason for use.
Fast treatment logging at field level
Treatment registration is linked to a specific plot/field, crop, and area, with the ability to capture dose and other data required in the register. You can apply a treatment to the entire field or select only part of it. FarmPortal automatically recalculates the treated area and related costs.
Map-based location and field identification
Records are anchored in the field map layer, which supports the requirement to identify the treatment area. Additionally, when you add fields from the ARiMR eWniosek process or select them directly on the map, our geoportal integration can automatically retrieve the relevant TERYT identifiers.
Reports and data export for inspections
FarmPortal enables structured summaries of treatments (for the whole farm, specific fields, crops, and time periods), which accelerates inspections and internal audits. Reports show which product was used, on which field, and on which crop. Products can be selected from the central database or from your own on-farm inventory/warehouse records.
Mobile workflow
Treatments can be recorded in the field using a phone or tablet — without rewriting notes later and with consistent data stored in one system. The FarmPortal mobile app is available to farmers on both Android and iOS.
Summary
The electronic register of plant protection product use was designed as a step toward unified, digital treatment documentation — consistent across the EU and easier to verify. FarmPortal supports this direction by providing practical tools for fast treatment logging, map-based field work, an authorised product database, and structured reporting that is orderly and ready for inspection or analysis. FarmPortal is the system where you can keep your plant protection product register in one coherent workflow.
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