What to Record for Each Lot at Harvest: For Quality That Can Be Reproduced

However carefully you select at harvest, without a record you cannot hand it to next year's self. Speaking of how it was made in numbers means making sure that next year's self, and our partner farms, can reproduce the same judgement. Here is what to keep for each lot at the harvest stage, combining LuLaLao Farm's practice with the research behind it.

Research data: what is worth recording later

The studies covered in the harvest cluster point to what should be recorded. Ripeness and fruit selection govern quality, and harvest timing (early, peak, late) moved defects and cup scores too (Huang et al., 2025). The best predictors of green-bean flavour were density and moisture (Gonzalez-Sanchez et al., 2024). So physical properties including these two are worth keeping for each lot.

Standardising the method of measurement matters just as much. With near-infrared spectroscopy, green-bean moisture can be predicted in minutes and non-destructively in place of the 16-hour standard drying method (the coefficient of determination R² against measured values is high, 0.97 to 0.98), and defects, composition and even cupping scores correlate to some degree (Adnan et al., 2017; Munyendo et al., 2022). But that too only means something once calibrated against the standard reference method. Numbers are taken by the same procedure under the same calibration, so they can be compared with next year. The value of a record is born only when it is measured correctly.

What to keep for each lot (harvest stage)

What we write down for each lot is roughly this. All numbers are limited to Data Bank measurements and visual estimates.

• Harvest date and position within the season (early, peak, late)
• Number of picking passes within the same area
• Ripeness guide (Brix) and estimated unripe fraction
• Float removal rate in flotation (share that floated and was removed)
• Time from picking to processing, and the temperature and cleanliness in between
• Density after drying (from this season)
• Breakdown of defects (cracked, blackened, unripe and so on, counted separately)
• Pest pressure (Antestia and others, as far as noticed)

That Brix is a gauge of ripeness rather than bean sweetness, and why density works, follow the thinking of the Data Bank. Numbers are taken to hand to next year's judgement.

How we use it on the farm

Records are taken to be looked back on. Peak-season lots go into the high-quality allocation; lots from periods prone to unripe fruit get stricter sorting next year. Plots with high pest pressure get treatment after harvest. The records tell us what to do.

This season, the items kept for each lot at the harvest stage are the eight above. Rather than adding items, we prioritise taking the same items by the same procedure every year.

Even a picking time that looks like instinct can be handed to next year if written down. A record is a letter to your future self.

The background to each item: judging ripeness (Ripeness comes before colour), unripe fruit (How to reduce unripe cherries), holding after picking (Post-harvest holding), variation within the tree (Why ripeness splits). For the whole picture, the overview of harvest.

References

• Huang et al. (2025). Foods. 10.3390/foods14173135
• Gonzalez-Sanchez et al. (2024). Processes. 10.3390/pr12010018
• Munyendo et al. (2022). Processes. 10.3390/pr10010071
• Adnan et al. (2017). Foods. 10.3390/foods6050038