Traceability & Provenance
Traceability: For Farmers
What Traceability changes for the person actually doing the work.
For the person running the business, the test of any farm software is whether it removes work or adds it. Traceability is a legal requirement and a commercial asset. This module maintains lot-level records forward and backward through every process step, supports a timed recall exercise that actually works, and turns the same underlying data into consumer-facing provenance that is substantiated rather than asserted.
In their words
What the job actually looks like
These are not marketing personas. Each one is a distinct job with a distinct constraint, and the module is designed so that solving one does not create work for the others.
Food business operator
Processing and packing
Needs a recall exercise that completes inside the target time.
- Define lots at every process step
- Record inputs and outputs against each lot
- Code and label with the lot identity
- Link suppliers and customers one step each way
Producer
Supplying a branded chain
Needs provenance claims backed by the production record.
- Record inputs and outputs against each lot
- Code and label with the lot identity
- Link suppliers and customers one step each way
- Carry attributes through processing
Retail technical manager
Supply chain assurance
Needs lot-level traceability on demand.
- Code and label with the lot identity
- Link suppliers and customers one step each way
- Carry attributes through processing
- Publish provenance to the consumer
End to end
How Traceability runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Define lots at every process step
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Record inputs and outputs against each lot
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Code and label with the lot identity
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Link suppliers and customers one step each way
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Carry attributes through processing
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Publish provenance to the consumer
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Run mock recalls on a schedule
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Execute a real recall if required
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Capabilities
What Traceability does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Lot creation and splitting through every process step
- One-step-back and one-step-forward supplier and customer linkage
- Field-to-pack traceability using the platform production record
Operate and monitor
- Batch and lot coding with label generation
- Mock recall exercise with timing and completeness measurement
- Real recall execution with affected lot identification and notification
Comply and evidence
- Consumer-facing provenance pages generated from verified records
- QR and code-based provenance access at pack level
- Deforestation and land conversion due diligence records for regulated commodities
Analyse and improve
- Carbon and assurance attribute carriage through the chain
- Supplier approval and specification records
- Chain of custody for certified and segregated products
Traceability
The chain behind one batch
Assurance audits ask you to prove a chain you have already lived. The record is assembled as the work happens, so the audit pack is a printout rather than a fortnight of searching.
BATCH-759F43
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Grown
- Who
- Field parcel
- Evidence
- Cropping record, inputs applied with dates and rates
- Held in
- Field record
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Treated
- Who
- Spray operator
- Evidence
- Spray record with product authorisation and buffer compliance
- Held in
- Spray diary
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Harvested
- Who
- Combine or contractor
- Evidence
- Weighbridge ticket, moisture and specific weight
- Held in
- Weighbridge
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Stored
- Who
- Farm or central store
- Evidence
- Store temperature and drying record, bin allocation
- Held in
- Store record
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Hauled
- Who
- Haulier
- Evidence
- Consignment note and cleanliness declaration
- Held in
- Haulage
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Delivered
- Who
- Processor
- Evidence
- Intake spec, rejection reasons if any, and settlement
- Held in
- Processor
Take the record with you
Worked example
How a business like yours would use Traceability
The problem: Needs a recall exercise that completes inside the target time.
What they do
- Define lots at every process step
- Record inputs and outputs against each lot
- Code and label with the lot identity
- Link suppliers and customers one step each way
What changes
- Mock recall completion time
- Recall completeness percentage
- Lots with full linkage
This is an illustrative worked example built from the module design, not a customer reference. Named case studies are published only with the business's written consent.
What we are hearing
The problems people describe to us
These are composite statements drawn from user research conversations, not attributed customer quotes. We publish named references only with written consent.
I am not short of software. I am short of one place where the same field means the same thing in all of it.
The scheme closed on a Tuesday evening. I had the application half built. Nobody told me the budget was nearly gone.
We farm on both sides of the border. Everything takes twice as long and I still cannot see the whole position on one screen.
Audit week costs me three days. Every single record they ask for is already written down somewhere on this farm.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Mock recall completion time
- 02Recall completeness percentage
- 03Lots with full linkage
- 04Provenance page engagement
- 05Attribute claims substantiated
Free assessment
Find out where you stand in about ten minutes
A structured assessment producing a scored report with a prioritised list of what to fix first, and what it is worth fixing.