Harvest Cycles

A Harvest Cycle is a container for a specific harvest period (e.g., “Summer 2024”, “Q3 Harvest”, or “Main Season”). It allows you to organize your schedules, track actual results, and manage shipments within a defined timeframe.

1. Creating a Harvest Cycle

Navigate to Harvest → Harvest Cycles and click Add Harvest Cycle.

Fields

Reference Code: A unique name for the period (e.g., “H-2024-01”).
Start Date: The day the harvest operations begin.
End Date: The day the harvest operations conclude.

2. Planning vs. Actuals

The Harvest Cycle view is divided into three main interactive sections:

Harvest Schedules (Planning)

This is where you plan your work. In the Calendar, you can click on any date to schedule a harvest.

Select Lot & Group: Specify who will harvest where.
Select Unit & Quantity: The system will calculate the expected weight.
Filters: You can filter the calendar by Lot or Harvest Group to see specific plans.

Harvest Actuals (Execution)

The system automatically aggregates your Harvest Entries into this section.

Performance Status: Each day/lot/group combination is color-coded:
- Green (On Target): 95% - 105% of plan.
- Amber (Under Target): Less than 95% of plan.
- Blue (Over Target): More than 105% of plan.
- Gray: No plan or no entries recorded.

Harvest Shipments

Track what you have sent to clients. This section includes its own calendar and summary tables by client.

3. The Interactive Dashboard

The Harvest Cycle “Show” page (/farms/X/harvest_cycles/Y) provides real-time insights:

Summary Tables: See totals by Lot, Client, and Harvest Unit.
Performance Summary: A high-level view of how much has been harvested vs. what was planned for the entire cycle.
PDF Export: Use the Printer icon in the Schedule section to download a professional PDF of your harvest plan.

4. Understanding the Components

Harvest Schedule vs. Harvest Actual

Schedule: Your “Ideal” plan created before the work starts.
Actual: The “Reality” calculated automatically from the scale weights recorded in Harvest Entries.

The system links them by Date, Lot, and Harvest Group to calculate the variance and performance percentage.

5. Best Practices

Plan Early: Fill out your harvest schedules at the start of the week or month.
Use the PDF: Print the harvest schedule and give it to supervisors so they know exactly what the targets are.
Monitor Variances: If a lot is consistently “Under Target” (Amber), investigate if there are health issues in those trees or if the harvest group needs more support.