Farm Traceability: Essential for Food Safety, Customer Trust, and Your Bottom Line
- Scott Yoho
- Nov 11
- 8 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Health issues are often foremost in our minds today. When discussing food safety, one topic that comes up frequently is traceability. This refers to the ability to track produce through all steps of the supply, production, and distribution process, from seed lots to dinner tables. Admittedly, this can sound like quite a bit of paperwork.
Today, we’ll walk through the basics of a traceability process and see that it's easy to incorporate into your farm operation.
Benefits of Traceability
Without accurate record keeping, claims that produce is local or organic or otherwise are just that, claims. Traceability means you can provide customers with evidence that supports and documents these claims. This evidence can also open doors to new markets.
Traceability can increase customer confidence and enhance your brand’s reputation. Improved inventory accuracy – brought about by traceability efforts – can also reduce spoilage and shrinkage.
However, the primary benefits of traceability become apparent when a food-borne illness (or other type of concern) occurs. Accurate record-keeping can help facilitate efficient (and less costly) recalls, minimize the impact of contaminated produce, and settle complaints and questions. Good records can also facilitate getting back in business sooner after a recall – particularly when you can demonstrate that your lots were not part of the recall.
Why Farm Traceability Is Critical to Modern Agriculture
In today's environment, food safety and transparency are paramount. A crucial element in maintaining consumer confidence and protecting public health is farm traceability. Traceability refers to the ability to track an agricultural product—from its initial inputs (like seed lots) all the way through production, processing, distribution, and finally to the consumer's plate.
While the idea of comprehensive farm record-keeping might sound daunting, incorporating a robust traceability system into your farm operations has never been easier, especially with modern farm management software like Farmbrite.
The Undeniable Benefits of Implementing Traceability
Implementing an effective farm traceability system offers tangible benefits that go beyond regulatory compliance:
1. Enhance Customer Confidence and Market Access
Verifiable Claims: Traceability provides the verifiable evidence needed to support claims like "local," "organic," or "sustainably grown." These records transform claims into documented facts.
Brand Reputation: By demonstrating commitment to transparency and quality, traceability significantly boosts your farm brand's reputation and builds lasting trust with buyers and consumers.
New Opportunities: Documented processes can open doors to premium markets, distributors, and retailers that require high standards of supply chain transparency.
2. Optimize Operations and Reduce Waste
Improved Inventory Accuracy: Traceability efforts naturally lead to more precise inventory management, helping to reduce spoilage, shrinkage, and overall losses.
3. Facilitate Efficient and Cost-Effective Recalls
Minimizing Impact: In the unfortunate event of a foodborne illness or contamination scare, accurate records allow for quick identification of affected product lots. This facilitates efficient food recalls, minimizing the scope and cost of the recall.
Faster Recovery: If you can quickly prove that your specific lots were not involved in a recall affecting others, you can resume business operations faster, reducing financial loss and reputational damage.
Understanding Internal and External Traceability
To implement traceability, farmers and farm managers need to track both internally and externally. Internally refers to where and how produce is grown on the farm. This includes information like the crop name and variety, the specific block or field, treatments, harvest dates, harvest crew, and more.
External traceability requires tracking both one step back (your suppliers) and one step forward (your buyers). Tracking suppliers means recording things like lot numbers from seeds and all other inputs. Tracking buyers can be done through your invoicing. If you sell directly to consumers, tracking may take the form of maintaining a customer mailing list.
A complete traceability system requires tracking information at two key stages:
Internal and External Traceability
To implement traceability, farmers need to track both internally and externally. Internally refers to where and how produce is grown on the farm. This includes information like the crop name and variety, the specific block or field, treatments, harvest dates, harvest crew, and more.
External traceability requires tracking both one step back (your suppliers) and one step forward (your buyers). Tracking suppliers means recording things like lot numbers from seeds and all other inputs. Tracking buyers can be done through your invoicing. If you sell directly to consumers, tracking may take the form of maintaining a customer mailing list.
Internal Traceability (On-Farm)
This involves documenting the complete lifecycle of the crop on your farm. Key data points include:
Crop name and variety
Specific field or block location
Treatment applications (pesticides, herbicides)
Fertilizer and soil amendment applications
Harvest dates and times
Harvest crew identification
External Traceability (Supply Chain)
This tracks movement both backward and forward in the supply chain:
One Step Back (Suppliers): Record details for all inputs, such as seed lot numbers, supplier names, and purchase dates for seeds, fertilizers, and other materials.
One Step Forward (Buyers): Track where the harvested product goes. This is often managed through invoicing systems. For direct-to-consumer sales, maintaining a customer mailing list or point-of-sale records is essential.
Using Lot Codes for Traceability
Traceability is accomplished by using unique codes associated with individual lots of produce. While the code can be any combination of numbers, letters, and colors, codes can be created in such a way that you can ascertain certain facts at a glance. These could include the crop and variety name, field or block, and harvest and packing dates. Using Julian dates (numbering 1 to 365) rather than months and days can save space and make details less obvious to casual observers.
Your lot code could also include information about your spray records, soil amendment applications, harvest and packing crews, packinghouse details, and more. This article from the Virginia Cooperative Extension discusses one lot code approach in detail.
These codes need to be associated with each lot, often by use of stickers or stamps. Farmbrite makes it easy to print out QR codes that can link to all of this information and can be accessed anywhere using a smartphone. Printing these codes to adhesive-backed paper makes it easy to post this information on containers and in the field.
Again, no matter what code you use, each lot must have a unique code, and every container leaving your farm should bear that code.
What Is a Lot?
A lot is simply a specific portion of a crop. You get to decide what this means on your farm. A lot might be the entire crop harvested from the same field on the same day. On bigger farms, that might represent several lots.
While smaller lots necessitate more record-keeping, there are related benefits. Should a recall occur, smaller lots can increase efficiency and reduce the likelihood that impacted produce gets distributed to multiple buyers. Accordingly, smaller lots can result in less produce being recalled.
Using Lot Codes for Seamless Tracking
The core mechanism for traceability is the Lot Code. This unique identifier is associated with a specific batch of produce.
Designing Effective Lot Codes
A well-designed lot code can convey essential information at a glance. It should be a unique combination of numbers, letters, and/or colors. Smart codes can be constructed to include:
Crop and variety name (abbreviated)
Field or block designation
Harvest and packing dates (using Julian dates—1 to 365—can save space and reduce obvious detail)
All containers leaving your farm, regardless of size, must bear the unique lot code for the produce inside. Modern farm management software simplifies this by allowing you to easily generate and print scannable codes, like QR codes, that link directly to all associated farm data.
Defining Your Lot Size
A "lot" is a specific, defined portion of a crop. You determine the optimal lot size for your operation. While a lot might be an entire field's harvest on a given day, many farms benefit from smaller lot sizes.
Benefits of Smaller Lots: Though they require more precise record-keeping, smaller lots significantly increase efficiency during a recall. They limit the spread of potentially impacted produce, reducing the amount of product that must be recalled, thereby saving time and money.
Farmbrite: Your Partner in Digital Traceability
While you can start with a notebook and pen, digital tools and farm manager software are the most efficient way to achieve comprehensive farm record-keeping and traceability.
Farmbrite centralizes your data:
Input Tracking: When adding a new crop, you input critical data (field/bed number, seed company, lot number). This information is automatically linked across the system.
Automatic Generation: You can manually enter trace numbers or have Farmbrite automatically generate a unique lot code that is instantly linked to your farm inventory.
Mobile Harvest Entry: Data capture at harvest time (volume, date, time) can be done seamlessly using the Farmbrite mobile farm app.
QR Code Printing: Easily print QR codes linked to your lot data, making it simple to affix traceability information to containers and field tags.
Other Ways Farmbrite Can Help with Traceability
While traceability measures can be started using a notebook, a pen, and some masking tape, technology can help.
When you add a new crop in Farmbrite, you’re asked to enter information specific to your farm, like the field and bed number. You’re also asked for data specific to your inputs, like the seed company, origin, and lot number. Entered once, this information is then linked throughout Farmbrite whenever you need it. You can enter a trace number or simply have one automatically generated. Either way, it’s automatically linked to your inventory.
Similarly, at harvest time, you enter the data you need to record – once. This includes information like how much you harvested and when. This can even be done via the Farmbrite mobile app.
Mock Recall
The way to test your traceability system is to conduct a mock recall. This tests your action plan in case something happens and you have to send out a recall.
Mock Recall Protocol:
Identify a Lot: Select a lot number, either randomly or from a long-time buyer.
Contact Buyer: Inform the buyer you are running a test. Ask them:
How much of the specific lot have they sold.
How much they currently have in inventory.
Document their response and the time it took.
Time is Critical: In a real-world scenario, a full recall needs to be executed within 2-4 hours. Use the mock recall to identify bottlenecks.
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Sales: If you sell directly to consumers (you can pretend to take this step), or reach out via phone, explaining the mock recall is for safety assurance, and follow up with an email documenting the interaction.
A mock recall that reveals flaws is a successful test, as it highlights areas where you can improve your traceability and recall process before a real emergency occurs.
Your Farm Traceability is an Asset
Traceability is more than just a regulatory necessity; it's a strategic business asset. It protects your consumers during emergencies, validates your quality claims, and ultimately strengthens your farming business. By adopting digital tools like Farmbrite, you can save significant time on record-keeping while ensuring easy, instant access to the critical information that keeps your farm safe, reputable, and profitable.
Clearly, implementing accurate traceability can have significant benefits in the event of a foodborne illness. However, it also has benefits on non-emergency days. Traceability can provide your buyers and customers with more reasons to purchase from you.
Farmbrite farm management software can not only save the time it takes to track the information necessary for farm traceability, but it also offers easy accessibility to this info. Try Farmbrite for free.
Additional Resources
Farm Food Safety Plans & Traceability – University of Massachusetts Amherst
How and Why to Conduct a Mock Recall – Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
National Good Agricultural Practices Program – Cornell University
