The clipboard on the fuel tank
Next to the farm diesel tank hangs a clipboard with a pen on a string. The idea is that everyone who fills a machine writes the date, the machine, the litres and their initials. On a quiet day in winter, it mostly works. During drilling, silage or harvest, when tractors fill at six in the morning and again at dusk, the sheet has gaps, and the pen has gone.
When the fuel supplier's delivery note arrives, the office can see how much went into the tank. What it cannot see is where it went. Add up the clipboard and the figures do not come close to the deliveries, and the question of whether that is missed entries, a meter reading wrong, a leak, or diesel going somewhere it should not, has no answer.
Why fuel records never add up
The clipboard is asking people to record the right things at the worst moment, with no check on what they write.
- Filling happens at the start or end of a long day, when nobody wants to stop and write.
- The pump meter may be read before or after, or not at all, and litres are written from memory.
- Machines are named loosely: 'the Fendt', 'big tractor', 'loader'. Two machines of the same make become one line.
- Some fuel goes into cans for quads, the generator or the hedge cutter, and is rarely written down.
- Deliveries are recorded by the supplier, not the farm, so nobody checks the tank level before and after.
Rules on the use of rebated fuel and what records are expected are set by the authorities. We only mention them in general terms and do not advise on them. The records problem, knowing what went into which machine, is the bit a system can help with.
What an unreconciled tank costs
Diesel is one of the larger running costs on a farm, and when you cannot say where it went, you cannot say which machines or jobs use most, and you cannot tell if some is going missing. Most farms have wondered at some point whether the tank is being dipped by someone it should not be.
Fuel use per machine also belongs in your machinery costs. When it is only an annual total, the true running cost of each tractor, and of each operation, stays hidden. And at year end the accountant asks for a fuel stock figure, which is a guess from a dipstick.
A fuel log that checks itself
What we build is a fuel log that is quicker to fill in than the clipboard, and which checks itself against the meter and the deliveries.
- A QR code on each machine and on the fuel cans. The driver scans the machine with their phone, which fills in the machine and their name.
- They photograph the pump meter before and after filling. The readings are taken from the photos, and the litres are worked out, not typed.
- If the machine has an hour meter, they photograph that too, which feeds the service record and gives fuel use per hour.
- Each fuel delivery is added from the supplier's delivery note or email, with the tank level before and after if you record it.
- The log reconciles: litres drawn, according to the pump meter, against litres delivered and the change in tank level. Any gap bigger than the tolerance you set is flagged, with the dates it built up.
- Each machine shows fuel used by week and per hour worked. Readings that do not follow on from the previous one, such as a meter reading lower than last time, are flagged straight away.
| On the clipboard | In the fuel log |
|---|---|
| 'Big tractor, about 200' | Machine scanned, litres from meter photos |
| No entry at all | Gap between meter readings flagged |
| Cans for the quad not written | Can QR scanned, litres recorded |
| Deliveries on a separate pile of notes | Delivery matched to tank level and drawings |
If your tank already has an electronic fuel management system with key fobs, we look at whether it exports data. Often the missing piece is getting that data somewhere useful.
The tank at the end of harvest
Through harvest, each driver scans and snaps at the tank. It takes a few seconds longer than walking away, and less time than writing on the clipboard. At the end of harvest, the log shows fuel per machine, per hour worked, and a reconciliation against the two deliveries. There is one gap, a sequence of meter readings on a Saturday that does not match any scan. It turns out a relief driver filled without scanning, and the gap is explained.
When the accountant asks for fuel stock at year end, the figure comes from the log with the last dip reading next to it.
Is your fuel tank run this way?
- There is a clipboard by the tank that is often out of date.
- Litres drawn never add up to litres delivered.
- You do not know how much fuel each machine uses per hour.
- Fuel into cans for small kit is rarely recorded.
- You have wondered whether fuel is going missing.