Trace every packet from the seed lot and its germination result to the farmer who sowed it.

A seed counter looks simple until a farmer comes back in the third week and says the rows are patchy. The first question is which lot, which germination result and which other buyers took packets from that same lot on that same morning. Most dealers answer from a bill book and from memory. Memory fails first.

Seed dealer software starts from the lot, because the lot is what the company, the inspector and the angry farmer all ask about. Tell us how you trade, and one variety gets traced first, from the supplier’s delivery note all the way to the farmer’s receipt.

Before the sowing season the dealer books packets with seed companies and takes advance orders from farmers by variety and pack size. Deliveries arrive as sealed bags with a lot number, a packing date, a validity date and a tag. The storekeeper stacks them away from damp and heat, and treated seed is kept apart from untreated. When the rains start, the counter fills with farmers asking for a hybrid they saw on a neighbour’s plot.

A sale is more than a bill. The dealer notes the variety, the lot, the packets and the buyer, and often gives credit until harvest. Field staff visit demonstration plots and listen to complaints about emergence. After the season, unsold and expired packets are counted and sent back to the company against a return note, and the credit book is chased.