From Spreadsheets to Systems: A Farmer’s Journey with Farmbrite
- Joshua Brock
- 25 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Farming rarely fits into a single box.
For Gantt Sharping, agriculture has meant everything from organic and biodynamic production to hydroponics, permaculture systems, and now full farm management. With decades of experience across diverse food systems, Gantt has seen firsthand how quickly complexity can overwhelm even the most organized farmer.
What ultimately brought him to Farmbrite wasn’t a desire for more technology; it was a need for clarity.
“I’ve kind of dabbled in a lot of different aspects of agriculture… and Farmbrite has kind of helped me quite a bit. It’s been a big part of helping me organize.”
Gantt Charping
This is the story of how one farmer replaced spreadsheets, oversized enterprise software, and manual recordkeeping with a system designed to meet agriculture where it actually is.
A Highly Diverse Operation
One of the reasons Gantt initially chose Farmbrite was its ability to handle diversity without becoming unwieldy. At various points, his operation has included:
Permaculture plantings, like fruit and nut trees that require long-term records
Over 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables in market-garden style production
Hydroponic systems with different workflows than field crops
Organic and biodynamic compliance requirements
“Having that much diversity is a lot to keep track of,” Gantt explained. “Farmbrite really helped me organize all of it.”
Instead of managing separate systems, or worse, disconnected spreadsheets, Farmbrite allowed everything to live in one place.
Life Before Farmbrite: Spreadsheets and Overbuilt Software
Like many farmers, Gantt relied heavily on spreadsheets early on.
“I think, like a lot of farmers, I was doing lots of spreadsheets. That was my main way of organizing.”
As operations expanded, he was introduced to larger enterprise farm management systems tied into corporate finance tools. While powerful, they came with major drawbacks.
“They’re really complicated, they take a lot of time to set up, and they’re really expensive. A lot of them honestly feel like dinosaurs—kind of stuck in the past.”
At one point, an attempt was even made to build custom software from scratch, but that process stalled under its own weight. That experience pushed Gantt toward a simpler goal: a system that covered everything essential without adding unnecessary friction.
“I wanted to simplify farm management, but still cover all the things that were 100% necessary.”
Farmbrite checked those boxes.
Practical Efficiency Where It Matters Most
Rather than pointing to one dramatic time-saving metric, Gantt describes Farmbrite’s impact as systemic—small efficiencies compounding across the operation.
Task Management & Labor Organization
One of the biggest improvements came through task management.
By creating repeatable tasks and assigning them to team members, Gantt could plan much of the year’s work in advance.
“I was able to lay out a lot of the work for the year in one good long session and assign those tasks to different people.”
Daily team meetings still mattered, but they became faster and more focused because expectations were already documented.
Inspection-Ready Recordkeeping
For farms navigating food safety, organic, or biodynamic inspections, recordkeeping can be stressful.
“There’s certain records you have to maintain. With Farmbrite, I can say, ‘Here are my records,’ and it’s already there.”
Simple but critical tasks—like sanitizing harvest tools—became repeatable, traceable, and inspector-ready.
“That alone is huge,” Gantt said.
Managing Crop Diversity at Scale
As crop diversity increased from a handful of hydroponic varieties to 60–70 rotating field crops, spreadsheets became unmanageable.
“Farmbrite was invaluable. It would be really hard to manage all that with spreadsheets and maps, which is what I’d done in the past.”
Farmbrite made it possible to track rotations, locations, and compliance requirements without constant manual reconciliation.
Insights You Can’t Get from Gut Feel Alone
One unexpected benefit of using Farmbrite was the visibility it provided into consumables and products.
Packaging, inputs, and crop protection products were easier to track, reducing both overbuying and last-minute shortages.
“Prior to that, I was just disorganized. I’d overbuy or get caught without something I needed.”
Custom reporting also changed how decisions were made.
“I love being able to create my own reports… I can show which products are selling and justify changes with actual numbers.”
Instead of relying on instinct alone, Gantt could walk farm owners through data-backed decisions—complete with charts and reports.
Bridging Operations and Finance
One of agriculture’s biggest pain points is the gap between field operations and financial reporting. Farmbrite helped close that gap.
By using Farmbrite for invoicing and integrating with QuickBooks through third-party tools, Gantt was able to meet the needs of finance teams without adopting expensive enterprise software.
“There are ways to make it work without paying thousands and thousands of dollars like these other big systems require.”
Beyond Crops: Expanding into Ranch Management
Today, Gantt is expanding Farmbrite beyond crop production into full ranch management.
That includes:
Tracking veterinary visits and medications for cows and horses
Managing animal care records
Organizing ranch-wide programs like rodent control and trap placement
“Farmbrite has been an answer for a couple of those,” he said, especially for teams that previously had no system at all.
Why He Recommends Farmbrite
When asked what he’d tell another farmer considering farm management software, Gantt didn’t hesitate.
“I start with Farmbrite. You can be a small farmer doing microgreens or managing a full ranch.”
For him, the value comes down to three things:
A fair price point
Practical functionality
Real customer support
“I’ve never felt like you guys have abandoned me. You’ve always been there.”
After years on the platform, he hasn’t felt the need to shop around.
“I don’t see any reason to go exploring.”
A Farmer-to-Farmer Perspective
When the conversation shifted away from software, Gantt returned to a core belief shaped by years of farming in different communities.
“It’s all about community building—having your community’s back and them having yours.”
From donating food during COVID on a small Hawaiian island to seeing neighbors rebuild a destroyed greenhouse together, he’s seen how deeply food connects people.
“Food connects us in so many ways,” he said. “That’s the real magic.”
Final Takeaway
For farmers managing complexity, whether that’s crop diversity, labor, compliance, or finances, Farmbrite isn’t about adding more work. It’s about replacing fragmentation with clarity.
As Gantt’s experience shows, the right system doesn’t need to be massive or expensive. It just needs to work the way farms actually do.
Joshua, his wife Jenn, and their dog Rooster live in North Central Pennsylvania. Joshua is the owner and operator of Hoffman Appalachian Farm, where they grow Certified Naturally Grown hops. Joshua has over twelve years of experience in growing crops, including growing in an organic system. In his spare time, he enjoys trail running, backpacking, and cycling.
