11-22-99



ELEMENTS OF A LOT NUMBER

Using the lot number GHF-95-B2-WT-O as an example:

GHF-95-B2-WT-O

This is simply the initials of your name or your farm name.

GHF-95-B2-WT-O

This is the year the crop was grown or harvested in. Some growers use the year the crop was sold in, but this can cause problems later if you’re trying to do an audit trail.

GHF-95-B2-WT-O

This is the storage location of the crop. This particular number stands for Bin 2. If you were selling hay and it was stored in mow 4, you could use a number like M4.

Some growers suggest using the actual field number as part of their lot number. This may work fine if you only have one or two fields of a particular crop of if you are a vegetable grower who is not actually storing the harvested crop for any significant length of time. However, if you have 8 fields of the same crop, you can wind up with a very long lot number. If you are a grain farmer and the crop from each of those 8 fields is going into the same bin, they are now mixed. Since you have no way to separate the grain by field as you unload the bin, the entire bin is essentially the same lot. Bin records must identify the source/origin (i.e. field number if grown, supplier if purchased) of the grain stored in the bin.

GHF-95-B2-WT-O

This is the crop code. Develop one for your crops that is easily understood. To help you remember them, you should make up a sheet describing your lot numbering system, along with a list of all your crop codes, to include with your farm plan.

This particular code, WT, is for wheat. You could use SB for soybeans, YC for yellow corn, BW for buckwheat, etc. Keep it simple and use it.

GHF-95-B2-WT-O

This is a letter to indicate the certification status of the crop. The letter “O” would indicate certified organic. “T1” would indicate first year transitional. “T2” would indicate second year transitional. In actual practice, it is unlikely the T1 and T2 designations would be used unless your buyer has requested something like “chemical free” crops and is willing to accept your transitional crops as such. The T1 and T2 are simply status designators. GOA does not recognize transitional crops.

If you have a hay field that becomes certifiable in the middle of the season, say between the 1st and 2nd cutting (meaning the 1st cutting is not certifiable but the 2nd cutting is), you can also identify the cutting number by adding a number to the crop code portion of the lot number to clearly show which hay is which. For example: GHF-95-M2- HY1-T2 for the 1st cutting and GHF-95-M3-HY2-O for the 2nd. “M2” shows the hay was stored in mow 2 and “M3” shows the hay was stored in Mow 3. Using this lot numbering system, the non-certifiable hay would have a different number anyway, but this would help prevent any confusion, especially if you have hired help.

Livestock

For large livestock, such as cattle, hogs, or sheep, each animal should have its own ear tag, dewlap tag or other permanent identification device with its own number on it. This number alone can serve as the lot number. If you use different colored tags for each year’s calf crop, the color can be part of the lot number as well. For example: Yellow 51. If you have non-certifiable breeding stock, you may wish to use one color exclusively for them. Don’t use non-numbered tags just to designate this color. Inspectors assume these are insecticide tags and you will have to waste time explaining.

For smaller livestock, such as chickens and turkeys, that will not be individually marked, you will have to give them some sort of designation, such as a “batch” number. This number can be used in place of the storage location number portion of the lot number or it can be used alone. If you have certifiable and non-certifiable animals, YOU will have to show that you can keep these animals physically separated.

Market Gardens

Growers who sell items right off the farm or at farmers’ markets generally do not use lot numbers because it is simply too time consuming to do this for a large number of individual sales. Receipts should be issued to customers and some sort of sales summary sheet should be used for each year’s sales which show the amount of each variety of produce sold. From time to time, your inspector may need to do a balance check to see how much produce you are getting off of your fields. If you don’t have any records to show the amount of each type of crop you sold, then you do not have an acceptable audit trail. Be aware that you can be de-certified for this.

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Global Organic Alliance, Inc.

PO Box 530

3185 Township Road 179

Bellefontaine, OH 43311-0530

Phone: 937 593 1232 Fax: 937 593 9507

Email: goaorg@ Website: goa-

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