Before Farmable
Fannon Agriculture carries around 50 different chemical products on-site. During the spraying season, stock levels move quickly and the picture can change day to day. Managing that inventory manually created friction at almost every point in the workflow.
When Tom's agronomist issued a spray recommendation, the process looked like this: drive 10 miles to the storage shed, physically check stock levels on each relevant product, drive 10 miles home, then place the order. Every purchasing decision required a 20-mile round trip.
Compliance added another layer. Red Tractor certification requires farms to keep a physical, up-to-date list of chemical products and volumes in the storage area itself. Every time stock changed, Tom's office manager had to update a spreadsheet, print a new version, and drive out to the shed to replace it. A single stock movement meant another 20-mile round trip and a reprint.
How Fannon Agriculture uses Farmable
Tom and his team have been running Farmable Pro for two seasons, and added the Product Inventory Management module at the start of the 2024 season.
The module gives Tom and his office manager live stock levels for all 50 products, viewable from their phones at any time. When a spray job is completed, the inventory updates immediately, no manual entry, no trip to the shed. At the start of the 2024 season, Fannon Agriculture had £14,789 of product inventory in stock. Having that figure visible at a glance changes how the team plans purchases and manages cash flow.
Every sprayer on the farm has a tablet with the Farmable app installed. The team logs operational jobs, spraying, thinning, pruning, mowing, directly in the app as they work. Tom can see who did what, on which field, from his phone.
Alongside the inventory module, Fannon Agriculture uses Farmable's Teams & Timesheets feature to track labour costs per field. Chemical products and labour together account for 90% of the farm's operating costs. With both data points in Farmable, broken down by field, Tom can work out the break-even point for any block on the farm without leaving the app.
Results
Stock levels update automatically after every spray job, eliminating manual spreadsheet entries and the need to visit the storage shed to check what's on hand.
The storage shed inventory list required for certification stays current in the app. The office manager no longer needs to reprint and drive out each time a product is used.
With chemical and labour costs (90% of operating costs) tracked in Farmable, Tom can see profitability by field directly on his phone, at any point in the season.
“It's quite easy to see where my money is tied up.”
— Tom Fannon, Fannon Agriculture, Kent, UK
About Fannon Agriculture
Fannon Agriculture is a 38-hectare apple and pear farm near Maidstone, Kent, UK. Tom Fannon founded the business in 2015 alongside his father, starting with 6 hectares and expanding through land purchase and rental. The farm holds Red Tractor certification and operates with a small core team. Its focus is on tight input cost management and per-field profitability.
Compliance and record-keeping in the UK
UK fruit farms operating under Red Tractor certification are required to maintain an accurate, up-to-date record of all plant protection products stored on-site, including product names and current stock volumes, physically located in or near the storage area. During an audit, this list must reflect actual stock at the time of inspection.
Farmable's Product Inventory Management module keeps this record current automatically. Every spray job logged in the app reduces the relevant product's stock level in real time, so the inventory reflects what is actually in the shed. For farms like Fannon Agriculture, this removes the manual process of updating, reprinting, and physically replacing a paper list each time a product is used.
Farmable supports Red Tractor, Global G.A.P., and QS Gap compliance record-keeping.