A loonbedrijf near Drachten, with a dozen tractors, two forage harvesters and a planner who had done the job for twenty years, took most of its work by phone from dairy farmers across the Friese Wouden. In the first week of good weather in May, when every farmer wanted the first grass cut in the pit before the rain came back, the planner's mobile rang from six in the morning until well after dark, and the calls about next week's slurry spreading got the same urgent tone as the ones about today.
The businesses in this article are illustrative examples, not named StartAutomate clients.
Key takeaways
- Loonwerkers get their busiest phone days in exactly the weeks when the planner has the least time to answer.
- An AI receptionist takes each farmer's request, writes down which parcel and what work, and puts it on the planning board for the planner to fit around the weather.
- The planner still decides the order of the work, since weather and machine availability change by the hour.
Silage and harvest peaks
Grass silage in spring, maize harvest in autumn, and slurry spreading in the permitted periods all produce short, intense bursts of calls. Every farmer wants to know when the machines will arrive, and most of them ring more than once when the weather forecast changes.
The agent greets known customers by name, asks what work they need on which parcels and how soon, and adds the request to the planning board the planner already checks twenty times a day.
Recording field and job details
The details that matter for a loonwerker are specific. The agent asks for the parcel or the field name the company already uses for that farm, the approximate hectares, whether the grass has been mown and raked, where the pit is, and whether there are access problems such as a soft entrance after rain.
For maize it asks about the variety and whether the crop has been checked for dry matter, and for slurry it asks for the quantity and the parcels, noting any restrictions the farmer mentions.
The planner stays in charge
The agent does not promise a day or an order of work. It tells the farmer the request is on the board and that the planner will confirm, and it can call or text the farmer back once the planner has scheduled the job.
Farmers who ask to speak to the planner directly are put through when the planner has chosen to take calls, and otherwise get a message taken with the details already written down.
Rules the agent follows
Slurry spreading in the Netherlands is restricted to set periods and methods, and the agent does not advise on what is allowed. If a farmer asks for work outside the period, the request goes to the planner with a note rather than being booked.
Customer and parcel data is processed under the AVG with EU hosting, and the agent tells callers it is a digital assistant at the start of the call, which most farmers accept as long as their field is on the list.
Common questions
Can an AI receptionist take job requests for a loonwerker?
Yes. It records the work, parcels, timing and access details for each request and adds it to your planning board for the planner to schedule.
Will it tell farmers when the work will happen?
Only once the planner has scheduled it. The agent can then call or text the farmer with the confirmed timing.
Can farmers still reach the planner?
Yes. Calls are put through at the times the planner chooses, and otherwise the agent takes a detailed message.