Field Lot Identification

This topic is part of the SG Systems Global fresh produce traceability, grower performance & FSMA 204 KDE glossary.

Updated December 2025 • Grower Shipper Code Management, Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), Pre-Cooler Load Tracking, Fresh Produce QA Sampling, Cold Chain Integrity Checks, PTI Case Pallet Linking, FSMA 204 KDEs, Lot Traceability & End-to-End Genealogy, WMS, MES, QMS • Growers, Harvest Crews, Packhouses, DCs, Importers, Retail & Foodservice

Field lot identification is how you turn “that block of ranch 7 we picked on Tuesday” into a precise, traceable production unit that survives all the way from field to case label, PTI record, recall report and grower scorecard. Instead of letting harvest crews scribble “Block 3” on bin tickets and hoping everyone knows what that means, field lot identification defines exactly how fields, blocks, harvest dates, crews and inputs roll up into unique lot IDs — and how those IDs follow bins, pallets and cases through pre-cooling, packing and shipping. Done well, you can trace a problem clamshell back to a specific field lot, harvest window and grower in minutes. Done badly, you get a recall scope of “everything from that grower last month, just to be safe.”

“If ‘field lot’ means one thing to the grower, something else to the packhouse and nothing to your WMS, you don’t have identification — you have three incompatible stories.”

1) What Is a Field Lot?

A field lot is a defined unit of production in the field that you agree to treat as a single “lot” for traceability, quality and commercial purposes. Depending on the operation, it might be:

• A specific field, ranch or block harvested in a defined time window (for example, “Ranch 12 Block A, picked 06:00–10:00 on 12 June”).
• A group of adjacent beds or rows under the same planting and input history, harvested in one shift.
• A specific farm and variety combination across a half-day or full-day harvest, where fields are small and homogeneous.
• For tree fruit, a particular orchard block, variety and pick pass (“first pick”, “second pick”).
• For processed or bulk streams, a defined grouping of inbound field lots blended together into a pre-cooler or packhouse lot.

The key is that a field lot is more than “whatever we picked today”. It is a deliberately defined unit that balances traceability resolution (small enough to be useful) with operational practicality (large enough not to explode the number of IDs you manage). Field lot identification is the system that turns those definitions into actual IDs on tickets, bins, PTI records and systems.

2) Why Field Lot Identification Matters

Field lot identification is where upstream traceability either becomes a strength or a liability:

• Traceback speed & scope: When a pathogen, pesticide or defect problem hits, field lots define how tightly you can focus a recall or withdrawal. Poor lot definitions inflate scope and cost.
• FSMA 204 compliance: For covered commodities, field or growing area details are part of key data elements (KDEs); field lot IDs are the glue that holds those KDEs together.
• Grower performance & agronomy: Linking QA results, micro tests, residues and shelf-life performance to specific field lots lets you identify high- and low-performing fields, planting dates and practices.
• Input and compliance records: Field-level inputs (pesticides, fertilisers, irrigation, audit history) are recorded against locations; field lots are how those records map to actual harvested product.
• Market differentiation: Claims like “single ranch”, “specific region” or “farm identity preserved” depend on robust field lot identification, not just marketing blurbs.
• Multi-supplier packing: When packhouses handle multiple growers and origins, field lots are how they avoid blending problems invisibly across the whole day’s run.

Without solid field lot identification, your upstream traceability story is basically “we think it came from one of these farms sometime last week”. In a world of FSMA, strong retailer QA and quick social media escalations, that’s not a story anyone is excited to publish.

3) From Fields and Blocks to Field Lot IDs

Translating maps and planting records into usable field lot IDs means agreeing on how to group and label:

• Field and block structure: Each farm is mapped into fields, blocks or ranches with unique codes, typically managed in GIS or farm management tools.
• Variety and planting date: These often define logical groupings — a field lot may cover “Block 4, variety X, planted on Y”.
• Input groupings: Chemical and fertiliser applications often operate by block or spray run; field lots shouldn’t cross meaningful input differences without documentation.
• Harvest windows: Time-based definitions (for example, morning vs afternoon, day vs night shift) keep lots small enough to act on.
• Crew and method: Some operations include crew or harvester ID in field lots, especially where technique influences quality and contamination risk.

A common pattern is a field lot key like: FARM-RANCH-BLOCK-DATE-SHIFT. For example: GR12-07-A-2025-06-12-AM. Whatever pattern you choose, the important thing is that it is unique, consistently applied and represented in systems — not just on hand-written tags on dusty clipboards.

4) Field Lot Identification vs Grower / Shipper Codes

Grower / shipper codes and field lots are related but not the same:

• Grower / shipper codes: Identify who grew or marketed the product — the legal entity and sometimes the ranch level.
• Field lots: Identify what and where the product came from — specific field/block + harvest time + sometimes crew.
• Relationship: One grower may have many field lots; one field lot always maps to a single grower/shipper code in a given season.
• On labels & PTI: Grower/shipper codes often appear in PTI and case labels; field lot IDs may be encoded in internal lot numbers and in some advanced PTI implementations.
• Upstream vs downstream: Field lots are mostly an upstream concept; grower/shipper codes bridge upstream and downstream because they appear at customer-facing levels.

Field lot identification therefore builds on grower/shipper code management, adding a finer spatial and temporal resolution. In a robust system, you can drill from a PTI case to a grower/shipper code, then down to one or more contributing field lots for detailed analysis and risk assessment.

5) Harvest Operations & Field Lot Capture

Field lot identification is won or lost at harvest. Key elements include:

• Pre-assigned field lots: For planned harvests, field lot IDs are generated in advance based on field, block, date and planned shift, and loaded into crew devices or printed on tags.
• Bin / container tagging: Each bin, lug or macro-bin is tagged with grower, field lot, commodity, variety and harvest date via barcoded tickets, RFID, or at minimum, machine-readable labels.
• Crew-level capture: Optional capture of picker, crew or harvester IDs for labour tracking and food safety investigations.
• GPS & geo-tagging (in advanced setups): Some systems log approximate coordinates for picks, especially in large or irregular fields.
• Harvest logs: Digital or well-structured paper logs summarising how many bins per field lot, per truck, per shift.
• Field consolidation rules: Rules defining when partial picks from multiple blocks can be combined into one field lot (for example, same planting date, same inputs, same ranch).

If harvest crews are still writing “Top field” or “Block 3?” on bin cards and hoping someone in the shed can decipher it later, your field lot identification needs work. Good IDs start in the field, not in the packhouse office after the fact.

6) Field Lots, Pre-Cooler Loads and Packhouse Lots

Once product leaves the field, field lot identity can either stay intact or disappear into blends. Field lot identification defines the rules for this:

• At intake: Bins are scanned against expected field lot IDs; truck loads often contain one or a small number of field lots.
• In pre-coolers: Pre-cooler load tracking links field lots to specific cooling cycles; some sites define pre-cooler loads as the next level of “lot”.
• In dump tanks / flumes: Where bins are emptied into shared water or intake streams, field lot integrity may be lost or deliberately merged into a packhouse lot.
• In pack runs: Packhouse lots (or “production lots”) are usually defined as homogenous streams through a line for a period of time; they may be made from one or multiple field lots.
• In PTI lots: PTI case lots may align with packhouse lots, which themselves should retain knowledge of their contributing field lots.

The field lot identification strategy should make these transformations explicit: which field lots can be mixed, how that mixing is recorded and how far back you want to be able to trace from a PTI lot to field-level detail. That’s a business and risk decision, not something to leave to whichever supervisor is on shift.

7) Field Lot Identification, QA and Micro

Field lots are essential context for quality and micro data:

• Condition & defects: Fresh produce QA sampling at intake should log field lot IDs, not just “Grower X, apples”. Patterns in decay, bruising or defects often track back to specific fields or harvest conditions.
• Residues & micro: MRL and micro tests are usually run at lot level; having clear field lot IDs means you can apply results precisely rather than across an entire farm.
• Field and weather conditions: Rain events, heat waves or dust storms on particular days or blocks can explain QA patterns when tied to field lots.
• Corrective actions: CAPAs related to quality issues (for example, persistent sunburn, dirt load, foreign material) can feed back to specific field practices via field lot IDs.
• Variety and rootstock performance: Field lots annotated with variety/rootstock detail help identify which combinations perform best for shelf life and defect profile.

Without field lot identification, QA and micro data collapse to “grower-level anecdotes”. With it, you can draw precise lines between field practices, weather and downstream performance — and change things that matter instead of blaming entire regions for one bad day’s harvest.

8) What Field Lot Identification Means for V5

For organisations running the V5 platform, field lot identification becomes part of the same integrated data model that drives PTI, QA, WMS and FSMA 204 reporting:

• V5 Solution Overview – Treats farms, fields, blocks, growers, field lots, pre-cooler loads, packhouse lots and PTI lots as linked genealogy objects with shared IDs.
• V5 MES – Field & intake capture:
  • Stores master data for farms, fields, blocks and field lot schemas, including links to grower/shipper codes.
  • Captures field lot IDs at harvest (via handhelds or bin tags) and at intake, validating against planned harvest lists.
  • Creates and manages production/packhouse lots, preserving references to contributing field lots even when mixed.
  • Links field lots to pre-cooler load tracking records and downstream pack runs.
• V5 WMS – Inventory & PTI integration:
  • Tracks pallets and PTI cases by PTI lot while retaining references to underlying field lots.
  • Supports warehouse and DC operations that require segregation or routing by origin, field, farm or programme.
  • Feeds field-lot-enhanced traceability into PTI case/pallet linking and shipping processes.
• V5 QMS – Specs, risk and performance:
  • Holds traceability and field lot policies, including lot size rules and mixing constraints, under document control.
  • Links QA and micro results to field lots, enabling grower/field/rootstock-level performance reporting.
  • Supports NC/CAPA workflows that target specific field lots and farms when issues arise.
• V5 Connect API – Farm systems & external data:
  • Integrates with farm management and GIS tools for field maps, planting data and input records keyed by field and field lot.
  • Shares field lot and origin details with ERP, retailer portals and regulatory reporting tools as required.
  • Supports FSMA 204 KDE reporting where field or growing area identification is mandated.
• Traceability & analytics in V5:
  • Enables drill-down from a PTI case or shipment back to field lot, field, grower and even harvest crew.
  • Supports analytics across seasons: performance by field lot, field, grower, variety, planting date and pre-cooler regime.

Practically, this means field lot identification is not just something agronomy cares about and everyone else ignores. It becomes part of how V5 ties together field operations, pre-cooling, packing, QA, traceability and commercial outcomes — so when someone asks “where did this come from?”, the answer is more than a shrug and a farm name.

9) Implementation Roadmap & Practice Tips

Strengthening field lot identification is mostly about discipline and design, not expensive hardware. A realistic roadmap looks like this:

• Map your current reality: Document how fields, blocks, harvest dates and growers are actually identified today on bin tags, harvest logs and in ERP/packhouse systems.
• Define a standard field lot schema: Agree on what constitutes a field lot (field/block + date + shift, etc.) per commodity and region; design a code format that can scale.
• Clean up mapping tables: Build a single, controlled table mapping farms, fields, blocks and varieties to field lot codes and grower/shipper codes; put it under QMS/master data control.
• Fix bin and ticket labelling: Move to barcoded or at least consistently formatted bin tags that carry field lot IDs, not just free-text descriptions.
• Digitise harvest and intake: Introduce handheld scanning or digital entry of field lot IDs at harvest and receiving into a system such as V5 MES, rather than relying on manual re-keying later.
• Connect field lots to QA: Update QA forms so every sample at intake and post-cooling carries field lot IDs; start trending basic metrics by field lot and grower.
• Define mixing rules: Decide and document which field lots can be blended into packhouse lots and under what conditions; configure these rules in MES and QMS.
• Run a traceback drill: Simulate a recall for one commodity and measure how long it takes to identify all affected field lots, growers and shipments; use this to prioritise further improvements.
• Scale by risk and value: Apply the strongest field lot identification to the riskiest or highest-value programmes first (for example, baby leaves, berries, “identity preserved” brands), then expand.

The goal is not to create tiny, unmanageable lots for everything. It is to make sure your field lots are defined clearly, captured consistently and used across systems. That way, when weather, inputs or human error create problems, you can see exactly which slice of the field it came from — and leave the rest of the crop, and everyone’s blood pressure, alone.

FAQ

Q1. Isn’t grower identity alone enough for traceability?
Usually not. “Grower X” can have many fields, planting dates and practices. Field lot identification adds location and time resolution so recalls and investigations can be confined to the affected production, not entire farms or seasons.

Q2. How small should a field lot be?
It depends on risk and practicality. Smaller lots improve recall precision and analytics but increase complexity. Many operations use half-day or shift-based lots per field/block/variety as a pragmatic balance. The key is to choose a rule, document it and apply it consistently.

Q3. Can we define field lots at the packhouse instead of in the field?
You can, but you lose resolution and risk mixing product from different fields, dates or blocks before assigning lots. Best practice is to assign field lot IDs at harvest or intake and preserve them through pre-cooling and packing, even when lots are merged.

Q4. Do field lots have to appear on PTI labels?
Not always, but the underlying PTI lot in your systems should be linkable to one or more field lots. Some advanced programmes do encode field or ranch-level identifiers in PTI labels for tighter traceback and origin claims, especially in high-risk or premium categories.

Q5. What is a practical first step if our current field lot data is messy or inconsistent?
Start with one commodity and one farm or grower group. Agree a simple field lot definition, implement barcoded bin tags carrying that ID, and capture it digitally at harvest and intake into V5 MES. Use a few weeks of data to clean up mapping tables and show quick wins in QA and traceback drills, then roll the pattern out to more growers and products.

Related Reading
• Upstream Identity & Traceability: Grower Shipper Code Management | Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) | Lot Traceability & End-to-End Genealogy
• Cooling & Cold Chain: Pre-Cooler Load Tracking | Cold Chain Integrity Checks | Cold Room Inventory Mapping
• Quality & Programmes: Fresh Produce QA Sampling | Retailer Spec Compliance
• Systems & V5 Platform: V5 Solution Overview | V5 MES – Manufacturing Execution System | V5 WMS – Warehouse Management System | V5 QMS – Quality Management System | V5 Connect API