Field notes
Cleaning Harvest Logs Before the Buyer Visit
A buyer walking the packing line will often ask for last month’s volumes. If the weighbridge book and the packing house sheet disagree by a few percent, most people shrug. If they disagree by a third, the visit shifts from relationship-building to detective work.
Reconciliation starts with a single list of harvest days. Match each day to a ticket or tally, then mark days with missing paperwork. Those gaps are usually where memory filled in numbers after the fact. We prefer to leave gaps visible rather than invent neat totals that cannot be defended later.
Units matter more than farms expect. Mixing catties, kilograms, and crate counts without conversion notes is a common source of phantom shortages. Standardising units before the visit takes an afternoon and saves a longer argument later.
If a buyer visit or board review is on your calendar, harvest record reconciliation can be booked as a focused engagement. We leave you with a cleaned workbook and a short discrepancy log you can keep beside the original tickets.