As the business manager of her family’s farm, she was having to bring harvest paperwork to sort through on the way to her children’s ballgames just to keep up.

A few years prior, an elevator had called about a check issued 18 months prior that had not been processed.

“I didn’t even know we were missing the check, and that was a red flag,” Meyer said.

She wondered how many other checks had not been deposited. Other farmers she talked to had experienced similar issues.

In 2020, her goal was to track expense and income by field. Using QuickBooks software made expense entry easy, but figuring income was time consuming.

While sitting at the kitchen table one day manually doing bookwork with paper and pen, Meyer looked out the window and envisioned all the technological advances her husband Andy uses on the farm—equipment with autosteer capabilities, a planter with row shut offs and pivots with connectivity to an app.

She thought, “This is not fair, there just has to be a better way to do paperwork.”

Could bookkeeping be done more efficiently using technology?

At the same time, Jared Yellin of the company Project 10K sent an e-mail seeking ideas for new technology software. The company was planning to build, scale and sell 10,000 technology companies in 10 years.

With nothing to lose, Meyer sketched out a proposal for an efficient software solution to manage paperwork that was accessible in the producers’ back pocket, right from a smartphone.

Within a week of submitting her idea, Yellin contacted her and Field Pocket began.

“Field Pocket is a way to track all of your harvest paperwork,” Meyer said. “It’s really about saving time and being more efficient.”

Field Pocket compiles information “from delivery through payment,” including harvest data, grain contracts, delivery tickets, receipts and settlement sheets.

To use Field Pocket, farmers install the software onto a computer or laptop, then download the app onto a smartphone or iPad.

No data entry is required by the user. Instead, they snap a picture of a receipt or ticket, and the data is transcribed for the user in a usable, searchable format that can be downloaded and shared via a CSV file.

Plus, Field Pocket saves digital copies so you no longer have to dig through files—or piles—of papers.

“You free up storage space by not having all those file folders or scale tickets that you never really look at until insurance calls,” Meyer said.

The data is stored in the Cloud. Farmers control who sees their information. Field Pocket is an independent company and does not share records with other organizations.

Multiple users can be given access to the account with different levels of accessibility.

“During harvest time, our drivers have access only to the scale ticket section,” said Meyer. “They can take a picture and upload the scale ticket but do not have the ability to see other components in the account.”

In addition to organizing information, Field Pocket can be a helpful marketing tool. Meyer related how producers can contract corn for $7 cash price, but the actual paid amount deducts moisture, shrink, discounts and taxes. Field Pocket calculates these figures to enable more accurate market planning.

Meyer has relied on the support of Project 10K to make Field Pocket possible.

“They have a wonderful team that helps support the business side, marketing and development, and they keep it running smoothly,” she said, joking that she would not know how to write a line of code.

Meyer is used to going out of her comfort zone. Originally a town kid from Minnesota, Meyer’s only agricultural experience growing up was visiting her uncles’ dairy and hog farms. She was introduced to agriculture through Andy, whom she met while attending college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Andy took over the family farm, and she has been managing the accounts ever since.

Problem solving and helping others has been a theme for Meyer throughout her life. A mother of six, Meyer was a mental health professional for 20 years. In November 2022, she closed that chapter of her life to promote Field Pocket full time.

The target audience is corn growers. Field Pocket is most conducive for those with 1,500 acres or more, but the team is examining how to better serve those with 400 to 1,500 acres.

Annual subscriptions to Field Pocket are available for $1,500, which can be paid at once or in monthly installments.

The team has a “long list of upgrades” and ideas to integrate Field Pocket with other apps. But first, they want opinions from producers.

“We are always looking for farmers to use Field Pocket and give us feedback,” Meyer said.

Farmers can start a free trial by visiting https://fieldpocket.com/.

Created by farmers for farmers, Field Pocket is a tool to streamline efficiency for all involved in the farming operation.

“Farmers work hard all year for a paycheck. We want to make sure they get paid for all that hard work,” Meyer said. “I don’t want any farmer to miss payments for any bushels or scale tickets because that’s money they can use to update, expand or try new innovations on their farm.”