Internal Audits Across Member Sites

An annual audit at every member site is the obligation that scales with the group

Twenty members means twenty site audits — every year, with evidence.

The obligation that grows with the member list

The Rules for Producer Groups require an internal audit at each member site every year, including verification of plant protection product application records on site (4.5.2 a). Every farm you add adds one more audit, one more set of records to verify, and one more entry to keep current in the member registry. This is the single obligation in group certification that gets strictly harder as the group grows — and the one where a spreadsheet stops working first.

Every site, every year
Records verified on site
Registry stays current
History per member
  • Audit status and last audit date visible per member, straight from the registry (4.1.2.2 a)
  • Treatment records available on site during the audit, on the auditor's schedule rather than the office's
  • Findings recorded against a member and a season, so next year starts from what happened last year
  • Photo evidence and GPS-tagged scouting attached to the site it came from
  • Nothing to request by email before an audit — the records are already in the system
  • A member added mid-season enters the audit cycle without a parallel spreadsheet

How the audit cycle runs

1

The registry says who is due

Each member carries its area, its products and the date of its last internal audit. What is due this season is a filter, not a reconstruction.

2

Audit on site with the records open

The internal auditor works through the member's actual treatment, harvest and labour records from the field, on a phone, not from a printout prepared in advance.

3

Findings stay attached to the member

What was raised, what was corrected and when — recorded against that site and that season, and still there at the next external audit.

4

The external audit reuses the same trail

When the certification body samples a member, the internal audit and the records that supported it are already in one place.

Internal audit questions

How often must member sites be audited?

Annually — the Rules for Producer Groups require an internal audit at each member site each year, including verification of plant protection product records on site (4.5.2 a). The obligation is per site, not per group.

Can we keep doing this in a spreadsheet?

For a handful of members, yes. It breaks down around the point where the audit history, the current registry and the underlying field records stop fitting in one person's head — which is usually well before twenty members.

Who can see a member's data?

The member sees its own tenant. The holder, as the party responsible for the certificate, can retrieve what the audit requires. Members do not see each other.

What if a member joins mid-season?

They are added to the registry with their area and products, and enter the audit cycle from that point. Their records start accumulating immediately rather than being backfilled before the next audit.

Carrying the paperwork for other people's farms?

See how a group certificate holder runs the registry, the internal audits and the evidence from one place.

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