One single planting might get you multiple types of sellable products! In this example, we will explore a scenario where you start seeds with the intent to sell half of them as started plants, with the other half planted in your fields to reach maturity and be harvested for their produce. This tutorial will guide you through all the setup and processes to accomplish this.
We will explore these concepts and actions in this start-to-finish comprehensive guide.
- Creating a crop type
- Making multiple grow locations
- Adding inventory items and products
- Working with custom fields
- Creating, transplanting, and harvesting a planting
- Selling the items in your market
- Running reports
Each bullet point above is linked to additional resources that can help explore that aspect of this scenario. Take a look through them to get more details about each step.
The Scenario
A farmer recently asked our support team for guidance with the following situation:
I start tomatoes (and other crops) from seed in batches where a portion gets sold as plant starts and the remainder gets transplanted to the field for harvest sale. For example: 300 tomato seedlings started — 150 sold as $4 starts at market, 150 transplanted for July/August fresh produce harvest. Can a single planting be split at harvest into two separate inventory items (e.g., "Tomato Starts" and "Field Tomatoes") so I can track revenue and yield for each channel separately?
Yes you can, and here's how! You can watch the video below to walk through each of these steps visually, and then work with the steps below for more details.
Configuration and Setup
You'll need to do some basic setup prior to starting the process. This includes create the crop types, grow locations, inventory items, products, and custom fields that you'll need for the process.
- You'll start by creating a crop type. We'll create the new type of tomatoes, and be sure to set the Harvest Unit field to quantity. That way we can harvest an amount, but it won't automatically be labeled as pounds, kilograms, bushels, etc. We'll later use a custom field on our harvest to denote this.
- You then need to create grow locations to plant the crop. In this case we are going to create two; one for the greenhouse where we start the plants, and a second field where we will transplant and grow half of our seedlings for harvest. The planting format does not matter for this use case, but choose the correct one for your needs - perhaps a field that you plant based on acreage, or "other" for planting based on plant quantity in the greenhouse.
- Next, you'll need two separate products to sell the two different items. Navigate to the Market section and create them; the details (price, taxes, categories, etc) are up to you. One thing to note - perhaps you sell the seedlings by quantity (per plant), but the produce by weight (per pound). Pay particular attention when setting up that aspect of your products.
- Similarly, you'll then create two inventory items to store the different harvests separately. Like the products, pay attention to the unit you store them in, as the seedlings are likely quantity, and the produce is likely by weight. At this point you should connect the products to your inventory items to be able to accurately pick your orders and deduct from your inventory when the products are sold.
- Lastly, you'll create a custom field to track the harvest type. This allows you to tag the harvest record as "seedling starts" or "produce yield". The names are up to you, but we would suggest using a drop down menu for this.
Planting, Harvesting, Storing, and Selling Your Separate Items
Now that you have completed the basic setup required, you can then start the process! This likely happens over a few months as you plant your seeds, harvest and sell some of the starter plants, transplant and care for others in the field, and then harvest and sell the final product.
- Create a planting of the crop type in the starting grow location. This is likely the greenhouse, but your methods might vary. Plant the total amount of seeds you are starting, and of course consider your loss rates as well.
- Transplant some of the plants into your field. From the planting record, you'll simply choose the transplant/split option and then move the required number to the other grow location. This leaves the remaining started seedlings in the current planting.
- Harvest the remaining plants in the greenhouse from the planting. You'll use the custom field you created to mark the harvest as "plant seedlings for sale", and then add the harvested quantity to the correct inventory item you set up for them. You can also optionally mark the planting as complete at this point if all the starts have been harvested.
- Start selling the seedlings. You can then create market orders for the seedlings while you care for the plants in your field and wait patiently for them to produce. You'll pick them from the inventory until you've sold them all.
- Care for your crop in the field. Maybe you'll add treatment records for fertilizers, make some tasks to ensure you weed and inspect the plants, take some notes and add images, and more.
- Harvest the ripe produce from the planting. Like step 3, you'll use the custom field to denote the harvest type, and this time use "produce yield" option. You'll add the harvest to your inventory and ensure you choose the correct inventory item to store the harvested fruit.
- Sell the produce in your store. Now that you have it in your inventory you can easily sell the product and pick your order to take the quantity out of your storage. This connection helps with traceability as well.
- Run some reports and see your totals. You can create custom harvest reports to filter and sort by the custom field, helping you easily compare the harvests and see your totals for each type. You can also run the Top Products report to see which one sells better in your store.
Questions about this process? Reach out and let us know, we're happy to help.