Agricultural Commercialization: The art of selling well and settling fairly

Agriculture is the only business in the world where you invest all your capital upfront, work hard for 6 months, and at the end, ask the buyer: "How much are you going to pay me for this?".

If you manage a Shipping Point, a Packing House, or an Agricultural Cooperative, you know you are in the eye of the storm. You face two immense opposing pressures: on one side, Retailers demanding Premium Quality at competitive prices; and on the other, your growers, who expect you to sell their fruit at gold prices to recover their investment.

The most tense moment of the season isn't the harvest, nor the shipping. It is the Grower Settlement (Account Sales). It is the "Moment of Truth" where the grower receives their statement and you must have the technical capacity to explain why they received $12 dollars per box when the terminal market was at $18.

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From "Back-of-the-Napkin" to Algorithmic Settlement

In the past, settling meant summing up sales and dividing by pounds. Today, that is impossible. Commercial complexity has exploded:

• Commingled Lots: You have fruit from 50 different growers in the same cold room.
• Sales Diversity: You sell at fixed price, on consignment (open price), Spot Market, and annual retail contracts.
• Multi-currency: You might source from Mexico/Peru (paying in MXN/PEN) and sell in the US (USD).

Trying to manage this matrix in Excel is administrative suicide. The ERPagro Commercialization Module (See Demo) solves this through Cost and Sales Traceability. The system knows exactly what percentage of "Mr. Smith's" fruit went to retail export and what percentage went to local wholesale, calculating the exact return.

The "Black Box" Opened: How is fair payment calculated?

ERPagro allows configuring complex settlement models (Seasonal Pools, Weekly Pools, or Lot-by-Lot) to adapt to any contract. Here is an example of the breakdown the system does automatically:

Success Story: Soltir and Commercial Digitization 🍅

Soltir is one of the most important grower organizations in Europe (Spain). They handle a massive volume of products like broccoli, artichoke, and pepper. Their model is hybrid and complex: they have Daily Auction (similar to Spot Market fluctuations) and Direct Marketing to major supermarket chains.

Their Manager, Ángel García, had a challenge: integrating these two worlds. He needed the grower to know almost in real-time how much their pepper sold for, while simultaneously managing long-term contracts with international clients.

The Solution with Hispatec: They implemented ERPagro to connect the field, incoming produce (with a weighing system that reduced errors by 60%), and the sales room. The result is total transparency towards the partner.

Ángel García explains how Soltir integrated auction and commercialization with ERPagro.

Transparency in the Grower's Pocket

For Soltir and many of our clients, the key tool is the Grower App. Imagine your partners don't have to call you to ask "did you weigh my truck?" or "what did the price close at?".

From their mobile, the grower checks:

• ✅ Receiving: Gross and net lbs/bins received at the plant today.
• ✅ Grading: Quality percentages (Fancy, Choice, Culls) with evidence photos.
• ✅ Estimated Returns: Payment estimation based on current sales.
• ✅ Account Statement: Balance of advances and input loans.

This eliminates 90% of complaint calls and builds a solid relationship of trust.

Selling is more than taking orders

For the sales team, ERPagro is a shield. In a volatile market, selling without information is dangerous. The system helps you manage risk:

• Credit Risk Control: The system automatically blocks orders to clients who have exceeded their credit limit (integrated with Blue Book data if needed) or have overdue invoices. Not one more pallet until they pay.
• Controlled Consignments: If you ship fruit "open price", the system keeps the lot "alive" until the receiver sends the final Account of Sales, allowing you to audit if the expenses deducted are real.
• Profitability per Client: Does that client who buys volume really leave money? The system crosses sales vs. claims/adjustments and logistic costs to tell you the real net profit of each client.

Excel vs. ERPagro Commercial

Frequently Asked Questions about Commercialization