Dear LiteFarm Community,
Thanks so much for being a part of this thriving community! We've seen an explosion of interest in LiteFarm over the last few months and it felt like the right time to check back in with you - our users - about one of the features we hear the most excitement about - exporting certification documents.
First, lets get an important point out of the way:
LiteFarm is not a certifying body.
Instead, we work with certifying bodies all over the world to create the export documents you need for your certifications. Even if your certifying body isn't on that list, LiteFarm has the ability to generate a generic set of forms that align with the general guidelines for Canadian Organic certification standards, which may be applicable to your jurisdiction. To better understand if that's the case for your operation, we've put together this guide to what forms LiteFarm generates and how we do it.
In some cases, LiteFarm can generate forms used by a specific regional certifying body. You can check if this is the case for your situation by logging into your farm and clicking “My farm” then “Certifications” and seeing if your certifying body is listed as one we work with. If you don’t see your certifying body in the list, we aren't able to generate the specific forms for your certifying body - sorry! However, our generic forms may still work for them and you can always suggest new certifying bodies we should be working with.
We plan to add support for new certifying bodies on a regular basis!
When you request a certification export, LiteFarm will generate* the following documents:
Record A: A record of the organic status of all locations on your farm during the reporting period.
Record D: A record of all seed and planting stock used to cultivate crops during the reporting period.
Record I - Crop production aids: A record of soil amendments and pest control measures used on the farm to aid the production of crops on organic or transitioning locations.
Record I - Cleaners: A record containing all cleaners, disinfectants, sanitizers, and facility pest management substances used on the farm but NOT on Organic certified or transitional locations.
Additional Survey Questions: Additional questions specified by your certifying body. This document will only be generated if your certifying body has submitted a supplemental survey to LiteFarm.
* A detailed description of how each of these documents is generated can be found below.
LiteFarm will also export a copy of all documents valid during the reporting period that have been uploaded to the “Documents” section in your app.
Please note that an export of your farm map is NOT included in this export, but is required for many certifications. You can create an export of your farm map by logging into your farm then going to “My farm” and “Farm map”. From the farm map screen, select the filters and zoom level most pertinent to your certification and then export by clicking the download icon at the bottom right of the screen. For farms with multiple sites, you can export several farm maps and include each of them in your submission.
Record A
Record A contains a record of the organic status of all locations on your farm during the reporting period. For each of these locations, LiteFarm will record the name, total area of the location, and the organic status of the location - either Non-producing, Non-organic, Organic, or Transitional. In some cases where the status is difficult to determine for the time frame, LiteFarm will leave the status of the location blank. Please ensure you are verifying the correctness of Record A before submitting it to your certifying body.
The status of the location will be determined by the following logic:
“Non-producing” if the location is not a field, garden, greenhouse, or buffer-zone
Blank if LiteFarm doesn’t know enough information about the location. This will most often be the case if the reporting period precedes the creation of the location and a location transition history.
“Organic” if the location is a field, garden, or greenhouse and was certified organic during the entire reporting period
“Transitional” if the location is a field, garden, or greenhouse and was “Transitional” at the beginning of the reporting period and either “Transitional” or “Organic” at the end of the reporting period
“Non-organic” if the location is a field, garden, or greenhouse and not certified “Organic” or “Transitional” on the last day of the reporting period. Buffer-zones will always be “Non-organic”.
Additionally, for all fields, gardens, greenhouses, and buffer-zones, LiteFarm will include a list of all crops that have a crop plan where either or both of the following is true:
One or more tasks during the reporting period
Tasks that exist both before and after the reporting period
If several varietals of a crop are being grown together, only the crop name will be shown. LiteFarm will show crops with both organic and non-organic seeds and inputs, so please ensure the crops LiteFarm includes on each location is the appropriate list for your certifying body. If you find any misclassifications, please directly edit Record A prior to submitting it to your certifying body.
Lastly, crops that are transplanted from one location to another during the reporting period may show up on both locations in Record A. Given a reporting period of January 1 - December 31 and a tomato crop plan where the tomatoes are seeded in Greenhouse 1 on April 1st, then transplanted to Field 1 on June 1st, Tomatoes will show up on both the Greenhouse 1 and Field 1 lines on the export.
Record D
Record D contains a record of all seed and planting stock used during the reporting period. Specifically, an entry will exist for each varietal that has a crop plan that is active at some point during the reporting period. A crop plan is considered active if either or both of the following is true:
The crop plan has one or more tasks during the reporting period
The crop plan has tasks that exist both before and after the reporting period
Exported details include those related to the varietal when creating that varietal, specifically:
The supplier
Whether the seed or planting stock is Certified Organic
Whether a commercial availability search was coordinated
Whether the seeds were treated or not
Please be aware that LiteFarm will not automatically link Record D to any supporting documentation that you’ve uploaded to the Documents portion of the app. All documents valid during the reporting period will be included in the export, but it is the responsibility of the user to fill in whether documentation to support or refute seed treatment or genetic engineering practices is present.
Record I - Crop production aids
“Record I - Crop production aids” contains a record of all soil amendment and pest control tasks that took place on a transitioning or Organic certified field, garden, or greenhouse and used a product as an input during the reporting period. For example, pest control tasks using hand picking or pruning methods will not show up on this record unless a product is specified, however tasks using foliar spray or soil fumigation and specifying a product will. For each task that falls into this category, the following attributes will be recorded:
Product name
Brand name or source/supplier
Quantity used for that task
Date of use
Crop or locations where the product was applied
Whether the product is listed in a “permitted substances list” per your local regulations
Record I - Cleaners
“Record I - Cleaners” contains a record of all cleaning and pest control tasks that used a product as a cleaner, disinfectant, sanitizer, or facility pest management substance and took place at non-crop growing locations or crop-enabled locations whose status was neither organic or transitional on the farm.
To clarify, pest control tasks that take place on an Organic certified or transitional field, garden, or greenhouse and use a product as an input during the reporting period will be recorded in “Record I - Crop production aids”. Pest control tasks that target any other type of location and use a product as an input during the reporting period will be recorded in “Record I - Cleaners”. For example, using soap to clean harvest bins at a wash and pack station in a barn would show up on “Record I - Cleaners”.
For each task that falls into this category, the following attributes will be recorded:
Product name
Brand name or source/supplier
Quantity used for that task
Date of use
Crop or locations where the product was applied
Whether the product is listed in a “permitted substances list” per your local regulations
Additional survey questions
Certifying bodies that have chosen to integrate with LiteFarm have the option to ask additional certification questions as part of the LiteFarm export process. If your certifier does not work with LiteFarm, you won’t have this document as part of your export.
The contents of the “Additional survey questions” document will be entirely decided by the questions your certifying body asks and the answers you provide. LiteFarm does not retain a copy of this information, though your certifying body may. LiteFarm uses the open source tool SurveyStack to allow certifying bodies to easily create and update this form.