Maintaining the FADN System for the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics

The FADN system is a critical tool used by farmers through Agricultural Advisory Centers. Our task was to rescue and modernize a system that had been neglected for years, yet remained crucial to the institution’s operations.

Project timeline

2 years

Team

3 people

Total hours

~ongoing

Used technology

Challenges

  • Technical debt and lack of documentation

The system had been in use since 2012 and, over the years, accumulated a significant amount of technical debt. No documentation existed, and there was no technical department on the client’s side, meaning we could not rely on their expertise regarding the technology stack.

  • Critical importance of the system

FADN processed hundreds of daily queries, collecting farmers’ data and generating reports required by both national and EU institutions. Any malfunction could disrupt key state processes. The goal was to establish a foundation for regular updates and further development without compromising existing functionality.

  • Rescue mission in practice

Our main task was to update the system, introduce improvements to usability and functionality, and prepare it for standard future development by modernizing dependencies and frameworks. To achieve this, we first had to tackle the challenge of understanding the code and system logic.

Solution

We began by running the system locally and conducting a code audit to understand the logic behind the undocumented code better. The knowledge we gathered allowed us to fix critical errors preventing the application from starting. From there, we gradually introduced small changes step by step.

With this foundation in place, we took ownership of the project end-to-end. We established a structured and repeatable development process that allowed us to introduce new features. We defined migration and regression testing procedures, planned necessary updates, and set up a process for releasing changes into production.

Thanks to our experience and proven practices, we transformed an abandoned, outdated system into a project that could be developed and maintained consistently.

Client’s review

“Prognetics employees are experienced and dedicated professionals who support the Institute’s work with creativity and commitment.”

Dr. hab. Marek Wigier

prof. IERiGŻ-PIB

Results

Despite the lack of documentation and technical knowledge on the client’s side, after just two months, we had already achieved:

1

Complete documentation and full understanding of the deployment process.

1

New development workflow enabling further project growth.

100%

Understanding of the codebase and overall system logic.

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