Agriculture process tracking is the capture and connection of records about what happened on a farm: field work, input applications, labor, harvest, inventory, packing, and shipment. The best approach is the one that fits the farm’s crops, workflows, connectivity, trading partners, and recordkeeping needs—not necessarily the most automated software. Process tracking can be done on paper or digitally; food traceability rules apply to certain foods and activities, not to every farm in the same way.
What agriculture process tracking covers
Process tracking links farm activities and their records so a farm can find and relate details such as which field or block was worked, what inputs were applied, who did the work, when a crop was harvested, and where the resulting lot went next. Depending on the operation, records may continue through inventory, packing, and shipment, as well as associated labor and costs.
Operational farm-management tracking is broader than regulatory food traceability. A farm may want reliable records to manage work, yields, inventory, or costs even when a particular food traceability requirement does not apply. Conversely, a covered business must maintain the records required for its activities whether or not it uses a comprehensive farm-management platform.
Which approach fits your operation?
Paper, spreadsheets, and basic recordkeeping
Paper forms, spreadsheets, or simple recordkeeping tools can be enough when workflows are straightforward and the farm can reliably connect field, activity, and lot details. Their usefulness depends on consistent entry, organization, retention, and the ability to retrieve and share records when needed. FDA permits paper records for applicable Food Traceability Rule obligations if they are maintained as required.
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Integrated farm-management systems
More integrated systems can connect records across activities such as labor, input use, harvest, inventory, packing, and shipping. They may reduce repeated entry and make it easier to follow a crop or lot through several stages, but a feature list alone does not establish that a product suits a particular farm. Check whether the system handles the farm’s actual crops, field structure, crew practices, and downstream handoffs.
Digital agriculture tools
Digital agriculture is a wider category than recordkeeping software. USDA Economic Research Service describes it as linked components that can include data collection from machines, imagery, scouting, soil, and weather; decision-support tools; and data-driven adjustments to equipment or inputs. Such tools can add useful context or automation, but a farm does not need advanced sensors or equipment merely to keep process records.
How to choose a tracking solution
Map the farm’s existing process before comparing products. Follow a typical crop or product from field work to shipment, noting who records each event, what identifiers connect one stage to the next, and what information employees or trading partners need to retrieve. Then assess solutions against the same criteria:
- Workflow coverage: Confirm whether the system handles the farm’s relevant stages, such as applications, labor, harvest, inventory, packing, or shipping.
- Field and lot links: Check how it associates activity and product records with fields, blocks, growing areas, and lots, and whether those links remain clear through packing and shipment.
- Crop and operation fit: A specialty fruit or vegetable operation may need different workflows from a broad-acre or livestock operation. Verify the fit rather than relying on a general claim of farm-management capability.
- Field usability and connectivity: Determine whether workers can enter records where work happens, whether the system supports offline use where coverage is poor, and how records sync afterward.
- Crew and input records: Evaluate labor and task tracking, input and inventory records, and the effort required to keep entries complete and consistent.
- Reports and exports: Check whether the farm can retrieve required records promptly and export or share them in forms its partners can use.
- Compatibility: Ask about connections to existing farm, equipment, or business systems and whether the solution can exchange information with buyers and other trading partners.
- Setup, training, and total cost: Consider implementation and ongoing staff effort alongside the price. Current product pricing and availability should be confirmed directly with vendors.
FDA recommends that businesses understand trading partners’ recordkeeping systems and agree on how to communicate traceability data. A system that works well internally may still create friction if partners cannot exchange the information in a usable way.
What U.S. farms should know about FDA traceability
The FDA Food Traceability Rule adds recordkeeping requirements for covered persons who manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods on the Food Traceability List (FTL). It associates key data elements (KDEs) with critical tracking events (CTEs). Covered information must be provided to FDA within 24 hours or within a reasonable time agreed with FDA. Applicability depends on the food and the activity, and exemptions may apply; the word “farm” alone does not establish whether a particular operation is covered.
Farm activities matter
FDA says farms are generally subject to the rule when they manufacture, process, pack, or hold an FTL food. There are no specific growing or raising KDEs, but farms growing an FTL food other than eggs need a traceability plan that includes a farm map identifying relevant fields or growing areas and geographic coordinates. Harvesters and coolers handling covered raw agricultural commodities before initial packing must maintain applicable harvesting and cooling KDEs. Farms should assess their actual foods and activities against the current rule and applicable exemptions rather than assume that all farm records fall under the same requirements.
Records do not have to be digital
FDA does not prescribe a specific application or technology. Records can be paper or electronic if they meet the applicable requirements. FDA recognizes that common standards can help systems interoperate, but GS1/EPCIS is not mandated for compliance, and each firm remains responsible for meeting its own obligations. FDA states that it does not “endorse” any specific standard or technology for compliance with the Food Traceability Rule.
Enforcement timing as of September 30, 2026
FDA lists January 20, 2026, as the original compliance date. It proposed moving that date to July 20, 2028; separately, 2026 legislation directed FDA not to enforce the rule before July 20, 2028, and FDA says it intends to comply. The statutory direction not to enforce earlier should not be confused with a final regulatory amendment changing the rule’s compliance date. Because this timing is subject to change, check FDA’s current materials before making compliance decisions.
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Examples of tools and supporting equipment
Croptracker describes its platform for fruit and vegetable growers as including spray records, harvest and yield records, work and labor tracking, field mapping, packing, shipping, and inventory or traceability workflows. It also describes printing scannable tags and labels. These are vendor-stated capabilities, not independent validation of performance, integration, pricing, or current availability; ask the vendor to demonstrate the workflows that matter to your operation.
A thermal label printer can support scannable harvest or pallet labels when the farm’s process calls for them. It is optional equipment, not an FDA requirement. Confirm that a printer, label format, and scanning workflow are compatible with the chosen software and with the information trading partners need.
FDA’s 2021 low- or no-cost technology-enabled traceability challenge received 90 submissions and named 12 winners. Its announcement described FarmTabs as free downloadable Excel software for small and mid-size farm traceability and records, and HeavyConnect as cloud-based digital traceability and compliance documentation with field mobile capture. Those descriptions and awards date to 2021; they do not establish current availability, current price, or FDA endorsement.
What adoption figures can—and cannot—tell you
USDA ERS reported that roughly 12 percent of U.S. farms used GPS for on-farm production in both 2013 and 2019. Those farms represented 37 percent of farm and ranch acreage in 2013 and 40 percent in 2019. These historical survey estimates show why a farm-count share and an acreage share can tell different stories; they are not estimates of adoption in 2026 or of process-tracking software use specifically.
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