About every six months or so, Casey Darrow used to do a Google search: record-keeping apps for fruit growers.
He needed a better way to keep track of the pesticide applications on his 110-acre farm in Vermont, Green Mountain Orchards. But it seemed like every app he tried had no idea what fruit farmers needed.
There were a few options geared toward corn and soybean growers. But Casey didn’t have much need for an app that helped him calibrate a 40-foot-wide sprayer. One app that was targeted more toward specialty growers seemed hopeful — until a report that was supposed to streamline Casey’s work turned out to be nearly 400 pages.
For years, Casey kept searching and trying out new apps as they became available. Every time, he would end up going back to the same trusty spreadsheet that he’d spent hours building himself.
That is, until he was scrolling through some posts in the Next Gen Fruit Growers Facebook group. Someone had left a comment about a new app called Farmable that was supposed to help out with record-keeping.
Casey’s acres — which grow mostly apples and blueberries — include 29 different blocks that he needs to keep track of. With Farmable’s import tool, Casey integrated maps of those blocks directly into the platform. Now he can track each block’s application records, pesticide and fungicide mixes, irrigation zones, and more. No spreadsheet necessary.
“Most of the materials we use have limits on how much you can use per acre or how many times per year you can apply it,” Casey said. “I used to have to go down the spreadsheet and manually count the applications, from 29 different fields. With Farmable, now I can just say, ‘show me all the applications of this product in this block between these dates.’ It spits it right out.”
This has saved Casey about 2-4 hours of manual work each week — so he can focus on more important strategic work around the farm.
He’s also used Farmable to set specific application tasks, then assign that work to specific employees. Once they finish, each employee can check off applications right in the Farmable app. Now Casey no longer has to walk around the fields at the end of the day, searching for certain employees and verbally asking if they finished an application or if they’re running low on a certain product. He can just pull out his phone and get real-time updates.
As Casey integrates more of Farmable’s features into his day-to-day operations, he’s also been pleased with Farmable’s ability to listen to their customers and adapt to new needs.
For example, sometimes Casey’s employees will do an “alternate middle” application on the operation’s fields. In this situation, they spray every other middle, then go back a day or two later and fill in the rest. Early on, there was no way to record these types of applications in the Farmable app — instead, it showed up as two applications (and double the product used).
If you’re interested in seeing how Farmable can help you streamline operations, keep better track of your crop treatments, easily manage your employees’ workflows, and more, Download the Farmable App and get started for free.
