Custom software for farms and agriculture businesses

Why farms end up with five systems and a notebook

Agriculture has some of the most specialized record-keeping of any industry, and it all happens in a few intense weeks. Planting, spraying and harvest windows leave no time to type things up, so records get written in a pocket notebook or a cab and entered weeks later, if ever.

• Spray and fertilizer applications need dates, products, rates, fields and applicator details, and restricted-use pesticide records have specific state and federal requirements.
• Acreage reports for crop insurance and farm programs are rebuilt by hand from maps and memory each season.
• Seasonal crews, sometimes paid hourly and sometimes by the bin or piece, are tracked on paper and keyed into payroll later.
• Produce growers need lot codes and harvest records that can trace a box back to a field and a date if a buyer or inspector asks.
• Grain and produce contracts, deliveries and settlements are tracked in a spreadsheet separate from what is actually in the bin or the cooler.
• Equipment data lives in one brand’s app, while the rest of the business runs somewhere else.
• Ag retailers and co-ops juggle grower accounts, agronomy recommendations, bookings and deliveries across sales reps who are rarely in the office.

Agriculture management software we build

Every farm and ag business is different, so builds are scoped to the operation. Common pieces include:

• Field and crop records: fields, crop plans, planting, applications and yields, with maps your team can tap on a phone.
• Application and spray logs that capture the details your state requires, with product labels and re-entry intervals at hand.
• Crew apps for clock-in by field or block, hourly and piece-rate counts, and task assignment in English and Spanish.
• Harvest, inventory and storage tracking for bins, coolers, pallets and lots, with lot codes printed at packing.
• Contracts, deliveries and buyer settlements, tied to what was actually harvested and shipped.
• An agriculture CRM for ag retailers, seed dealers and co-ops: grower accounts, acres, bookings, agronomy visits and follow-ups.
• Customer portals and online ordering for CSAs, farm stands, wholesale buyers or grower members.
• Equipment maintenance logs and parts tracking across machines.
• Integrations with accounting, payroll, equipment data platforms and weather services where they offer an API.

Farm software vs. custom agriculture software

Some good farms software is already out there. John Deere Operations Center collects machine and field data from connected equipment. Climate FieldView, from Bayer, is widely used for field data and yield maps. Farmbrite covers crop and livestock record-keeping for smaller and diversified farms. If your needs are field maps and machine data, start with these, often for little or no added cost.

Custom software fits where those tools stop: a packing shed that needs lot traceability tied to harvest crews, a grower with piece-rate pay rules, a co-op or ag retailer that needs a CRM built around acres and bookings rather than generic deals, or a diversified farm that sells direct and wants orders, deliveries and inventory together. Custom software can also pull data from equipment platforms so you see it next to the rest of the business.

How an agriculture software project works

1. Plan around your seasonWe schedule discovery and launch around planting and harvest, so nobody is asked to try new software in the busiest week.
2. Walk the operationWe go through a season’s worth of records with the owner, field manager, crew leads and office, and write down what each needs.
3. Design for the fieldYou click through screens built for phones in bright sun, big buttons, gloved hands and weak signal.
4. Build in roundsPieces arrive in short rounds you review, usually starting with the records you most need to get right.
5. Bring in historyFields, past applications, customers and contracts come over from spreadsheets so you start with your own data.
6. Go live off-seasonTraining and launch happen in the quieter months, with the app tested on one crew or one field before the next season.

Practical AI on the farm

AI can turn a voice note from the cab into a spray or field record, read seed and chemical invoices into inventory, translate crew instructions, and draft weekly reports for landlords or buyers from your own records. It can also answer the phone for an ag retailer or farm stand when everyone is in the field. Agronomic decisions stay with your agronomist.