In this Croptracker Customer Spotlight, we were excited to connect with Molly Bell of Bell Farms. Located in Auburn Maine, the Bell family has been farming potatoes for nearly 100 years, operating under the Bell Farms name since 1937. Currently the farm is managed by the 3rd and 4th generation of the Bell family. Molly and her husband Shane work alongside Shane’s aunts, uncles and siblings to farm 500 acres of grain corn, sweet corn and potatoes. Molly Bell is the Farm Manager and Food Safety Coordinator at Bell Farms and has been using Croptracker since the 2021 harvest season.
"We rotate our potatoes and sweet corn. They're on our most valuable ground that we can irrigate. The ground that's not so ideal, maybe very rocky with no access to water, is used for grain corn. The potatoes and sweet corn flip-flop every year." - Molly Bell
Molly’s introduction to farming came through her marriage to Shane. Previously Molly worked as a dental assistant and, in the last 5 years, has transitioned to full time farming. As other family farmers will certainly understand, Molly’s job involves nearly all aspects of the farm – from HR to tractor repair to sales – and there is a steep learning curve. Part of this learning process is documented on Bell Farm’s Youtube channel. Molly teaches viewers about what her daily farm life looks like and documents her own learning and impressive skill development.
I do not sit at a desk. My job is actually farming. I do tractor work, tillage, and most of the fall and spring tillage. My regular responsibilities are to manage incoming orders, set up for packing, clean and maintain equipment, and actually do the bagging. I fill a lot of bags of potatoes. In the summer, I run the HR department with all new hires for seasonal workers, do all the training for new people, and just annual training. I’m the primary recorder of all events that happen on the farm.
To meet the demands of organizing staff, farm production, sales and safety, Molly quickly began a search for a way to digitize and organize farm records. After some online research, Molly decided to start with Croptracker’s Production Practice module. This module includes all the farm mapping and planting features of every Croptracker account and allows for an easily configurable and flexible farm activity log.
I recently transitioned to full-time farming, and I’ve been working to streamline what I could, switching a lot of the paper records to electronic ones. Everything at the farm was on paper. We didn’t even have a computer here until about five years ago, when I started using Croptracker.
Molly’s initial goal was to simplify, organize and digitize the food safety record keeping for smoother and faster audit processes. With Croptracker, Molly is able to document farm and food safety activities on the go from her phone or can catch up with record keeping at the end of the day on her computer. Molly has added custom activities to her account that align with the language of the various safety programs she has to submit to including GAP, FSMA and USDA Harmonized Plus programs. She is able to satisfy customer traceability and food safety requirements and easily share records, including to her largest customer, Walmart and regional Maine supermarket chain, Market Basket.
"We participate in USDA Harmonized Plus audits every year, which Walmart requires. Market Basket is okay with just GAP (Good Agricultural Practice), but Walmart wants the highest level of food safety certificates. I primarily use Croptracker to keep track of daily operations and notable things. It covers traceability, water samples, and all of that stuff." - Molly Bell
Molly’s record keeping with Croptracker has also helped her with day to day operations. Through her years recording regular farm practices in Croptracker, she has been able to produce historic data of their actions, effectively creating season over season manuals. This helps archive, organize, and make accessible the vast amount of knowledge the Bell family has about managing their land and growing quality produce.
It’s like having a second memory. The audits are still a lot of work, but having accessible records to what you’ve been doing is invaluable. … The potential of digital records is huge. It’s great to have everything in one place, where I can type in keywords and quickly find what I need.
With a comprehensive farm diary in Croptracker, Molly can review the efficacy of their processes now to make adjustments. Being able to see what happened in the season, and what were the results, means informed decisions can be made about adjusting farm practices. As traceability and food safety requirements change, labor pressures increase and growing conditions become more unpredictable, having access to organized information is key for adaptability.
Molly Bell's embrace of Croptracker not only streamlined operations but also underscored the transformative power of technology in modern farming. By digitizing records and ensuring Bell Farm’s continues to meet stringent food safety standards, Molly has set a benchmark for efficient and sustainable practices. Her work serves as an inspiration, showing how leveraging tools like Croptracker can empower farmers to preserve family legacies while embracing innovation. Moving forward with Croptracker, Molly hopes to train more family members and staff on her processes and share the work of recording activities. Similar family farms can also benefit from such forward-thinking approaches, ensuring that tradition and technology harmoniously coexist in the future of farming.
