---
id: KB-AL-022
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/food-and-beverage/the-field-record-and-what-gets-asked-later
idioma: en
categoria: sector-alimentacion
subcategoria: agricultura
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CS-025, KB-AL-005, KB-AL-025]
citadoPor: [KB-AL-029]
---

# The field record and what gets asked later

_It is kept out of obligation and ends up serving another purpose: it is the only thing that answers when a client asks about a consignment._

**Responde a:** field record what to write down · asked for treatments on a consignment · traceability from the field · paperwork clients ask farmers for

The record is kept because it must be, and is often filled in the day before somebody asks for it. And yet, when a client asks why a particular consignment is as it is, or when an alert comes, it is the only document that can answer — because it is the only one linking a field to a date and to what was done that day.

## What you will later be asked about a consignment

| Question | Comes from the record if it holds… |
| --- | --- |
| Which field did it come from? | Harvest recorded by field and date |
| What treatments did it have? | Product, rate and date recorded |
| Were the intervals respected? | Treatment date and harvest date recorded |
| What water was it irrigated with? | Source recorded, where it applies to your crop |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **The left-hand column are a client's questions, not an inspector's — and they arrive far more often than any inspection.** That is the practical reason to keep it current: it is not administrative paperwork, it is what lets you keep a client who is asking whether they can trust that consignment. A record filled in afterwards cannot do that, because the dates match nothing.

## What makes it genuinely useful

**En corto**

- Recording the same day, even roughly on a phone: the date is the point.
- Making the field the unit, not the whole holding: otherwise everything is one batch.
- Keeping the invoices for what is applied, which is what supports the entries.
- And recording what was not done when planned: it explains the gaps.

> [!WARNING]
> The gap almost nobody bridges, where everything is lost: **between harvest and what goes out on the lorry**. In the field there are plots; in the store there are pallets. If loading does not record which plots go in each consignment, the whole record never connects to the client: you can say what you did in each field and cannot say which field reached them. One line on the delivery note bridges it entirely.

> [!NOTE]
> Which entries are mandatory, in what detail and for how long they must be kept depends on the crop, the destination and the applicable rules, plus whatever each private certification requires. **Your agronomist or adviser settles that**; here we explain why keeping it current pays off even if nobody asked.

**Is recording it on a phone acceptable?**

Yes, if done the same day and then preserved.

**Do I have to record by field?**

Without it you can bound nothing later. It is the useful unit.

**Can my clients ask for it?**

They will ask, and more often than the authorities do.

## Ejemplos

**The record is filled in the day before an audit and the dates match nothing.**

- Records on the day, even on a phone, with the right date

→ The record can answer client questions, not merely pass a review.

**A client asks about a consignment and nobody knows which fields it came from.**

- Records on the delivery note which plots go in each consignment

→ What was recorded in the field connects to what the client received.

**Everything is recorded at holding level and one incident means reviewing the whole season.**

- Changes the recording unit to the field

→ An incident is bounded to a few hectares instead of the entire harvest.

**The field record is filled from memory at the end.**

- Records at the moment, from a phone

→ The data is exact.

**A client asks about one specific consignment.**

- Checks what was recorded on those dates

→ You answer from the record rather than from memory.

**The record is on paper and gets wet or lost.**

- Captures and stores it at once

→ The record outlives the field.