Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for organic farms.
A checklist built from how organic farms work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Field history and conversion status
- Approved input register
- Compost and manure batches
- Lot coding from field to pack
- Cleaning and segregation records
- Box scheme, market and trade orders
- Audit file and certifier visit
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For growers and owners
- For the compliance lead
- For field crews
- For packing shed staff
- For the sales desk
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Parcel history for any chosen number of years, with crops, inputs and cover crops
- Inputs applied by product, parcel and date, with approval reference
- Compost batches with source, turning and heat readings, and where each was spread
- Lot trail from parcel to pack to customer, forwards and backwards
- Cleaning and segregation checks by date and person
- Box scheme subscribers, pauses and deliveries by round
- Open corrective actions from the last inspection
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Label printer
- SMS and messaging
- Payment gateway
- Accounting export
- Spreadsheet import
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Will this software certify our farm as organic?
- How does it stop a banned product being used?
- Can a conversion parcel be kept apart from full organic ground?
- How does a recall trace work?
- Does it handle weekly boxes with swaps and pauses?
- Can field crews record work without office staff?
- What do we have to supply for set-up?
- Who owns the records?
- How is the price set?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Field history is spread over seasons of paper
- Nobody checks an input against the approved list
- Organic and non-organic lots can get mixed
- Compost batches have no trail
- Box and market sales are not tied to lots
Prefer to talk it through? See the organic farms page.