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Green contracts and contracted lots

Table of Contents

Overview Before you begin Create a green contract Update the status of a contract Edit or archive a contract Add coffee to a contract Add a contracted lot Link an existing green lot Manage a contracted lot Edit the details of a contracted lot Adjust the weight of a contracted lot Link a sample group to a contracted lot Release coffee from a contracted lot Delete a contracted lot FAQ What is the difference between Adjust weight and Edit? What happens to the country of origin when you release coffee? Can you link more than one green lot at a time? Where does Cropster store container numbers? Related articles Need help?

Overview

A green contract records a purchase agreement with a seller and tracks the coffee bought under that agreement, from the date of signature until you release the coffee into your green inventory. Because a contracted lot does not need a location, you can record coffee before you know where it is or when it arrives.

This article is for green buyers and inventory managers who need to record coffee purchases and follow those purchases through to arrival.

This feature is under active development. The Green Contracts & Costs module is included in Cropster Advanced and Enterprise, and is available as an add-on for Core and Scale. If your account does not have the module enabled, or if you do not have the Contracts permission, the Contracts item does not appear in your user interface.

As of August 2026, Cropster is still developing this module. We plan to add more options for managing contracts and lots, as well as cost tracking. If a capability that you need is missing, contact Cropster support to confirm its status.

Before you begin

The seller must already be a member of your Supply Network.
Some actions cannot be reversed, including linking a green lot, linking a sample group, and releasing coffee for the first time. Each section notes these actions where they apply.

Create a green contract

In the main navigation, click Contracts.
Click Add contract.
Enter the contract details:
- Name (required)
- Type (required): Spot, Forward, or Future.
- Seller (required): A member of your supply network.
- Incoterm: One of the 11 standard Incoterms:
  - EXW,
  - FCA,
  - CPT,
  - CIP,
  - DAP,
  - DPU,
  - DDP,
  - FAS,
  - FOB,
  - CFR,
  - or CIF.
    Incoterms always appear in English, regardless of your interface language, so that the trade terminology remains consistent.
- Signature date
- Expiration date
- Notes
Click on Create contract.

The contract receives an ID in the format PC-#### and you are redirected to the Contract details page. The default status of a new contract is Draft.

Update the status of a contract

You can change the status of a contract at any time, either on the Contract details page or on the Contracts overview. Each change can include an optional note.

Every status change is recorded in a permanent, chronological history. Nobody can edit or delete an entry after Cropster records it, so the history is reliable as an audit trail.

Edit or archive a contract

You can edit or archive a contract in two places, and the result is the same in both:

On the Contracts overview, hover over the row of the contract to show its action icons, including Edit and Archive contract.
On the Contract details page, click Edit or Archive.

When you edit a contract, you can update any detail that you entered when you created the contract.

Archiving removes the contract from your active list. The contract and its contracted lots remain unchanged. To find an archived contract, set the Availability filter on the Contracts overview to Archived. To restore the contract, unarchive it from the Contract details page.

Add coffee to a contract

Every contract needs at least one contracted lot. A contracted lot represents coffee that you have bought but have not yet taken into inventory, which is why a contracted lot has no location. When you release coffee from a contracted lot, Cropster creates or updates a physical green lot in your green inventory, and you then manage that green lot in the same way as any other green lot.

There are two ways to add a contracted lot. The right choice depends on whether the coffee already exists in your green inventory.

Option	When to use it
Add contracted lot	You want to record contracted coffee that does not yet exist as a green lot, so that you can track the coffee before it arrives.
Link existing green lot	The coffee already exists as a green lot, because the coffee has fully or partly arrived, or because you track it through another process. A link creates the matching contracted lot and connects the two records.

If you use Add contracted lot for coffee that already exists as a green lot, two disconnected records will be created for the same coffee. If you are unsure, search your green inventory first.

Add a contracted lot

On the Contract details page, go to the Contracted lots section.
Select Add contracted lot.
Enter the Name, Country of origin, Contracted weight, and Base price. The currency matches your account default, and you cannot change the currency in this form.
Select Create contracted lot.

Link an existing green lot

You cannot undo a link. To reverse a link, you have to delete the contracted lot that the link created, which is possible only while that contracted lot has no releases.

From the Contract details page, click Link existing green lot.
Search for the green lot.
Select the green lot. You can link one green lot at a time, although a contract can have any number of linked green lots. Check the details of the green lot before you continue.
Confirm or change the Initial weight of the new contracted lot. This field is prefilled with the initial weight of the green lot, and you can enter any value of zero or above.
Check the Current (unreleased) weight. The default value is 0, because a link assumes that the coffee is already fully released. To keep some weight available for a later release, adjust the available weight of the green lot before you continue.
Select Link green lot.

You will be returned to the Contract details page and the change is confirmed. The new lot appears in the Contracted lots table with an ID in the format CG-####, and the table shows the weight, unreleased weight, total value, and base price of the lot. Any sample group that is already assigned to the green lot will also be assigned to the new contracted lot. From this point, a sample group link on either record applies to both records.

Manage a contracted lot

Once a contracted lot exists, you can act on it directly from the Contracted Lots table on the Contract details page.

Edit the details of a contracted lot

Click the Edit icon on the contracted lot.
Update the Name, Base price, or Country of origin.
Click Update contracted lot.

The Contracted lots table updates immediately. Contracted weight is read-only in this form, so use Adjust weight to change the contracted weight.

Adjust the weight of a contracted lot

Select Adjust weight on the contracted lot.
Enter the corrected contracted weight, the corrected unreleased weight, or both. Cropster does not accept a contracted weight that is lower than the released weight and the unreleased weight combined, which prevents a release of more coffee than the contract covers.
Add a note that explains the change.
Select Update weight to apply the change, or select Cancel to keep the current weights.

Link a sample group to a contracted lot

You cannot unlink a sample group. To remove the connection, delete the contracted lot.

Select Link samples on the contracted lot.
Select a sample group. You can link one sample group at a time. Check the sample, type, date, score, and rating of the group to confirm that it is the correct group.
Select Link samples.

Cropster also links the sample group to the parent contract and to any green lot that you release from this contracted lot.

Release coffee from a contracted lot

A release moves weight from the contracted lot into your green inventory as a release transaction against a green lot.

The first release permanently locks the contracted lot to the contract. After the first release, you cannot delete the contracted lot. Cropster warns you before the first release.

Select Release coffee on the contracted lot. After you release all the weight, Cropster disables this option.
Choose the target location and the weight to release. You can change the unit, and you can release to more than one location.
Add a note that explains the release. The note appears with the weight transaction in the transaction history of the linked green lot.
Select Release coffee. If you try to release more than the available weight, Cropster warns you.

The result depends on the target location:

If the target location matches the linked green lot's location, the released weight is added to that green lot.
If the location does not match, a new green lot is created at the target location, with its initial and available weight set to the released amount.

Delete a contracted lot

A deletion corrects a mistake, such as a link to the wrong sample group or to the wrong green lot, before any release takes place. Only users with permission to edit contracts see the Delete action.

Select Delete on the contracted lot.
Confirm the deletion. Cropster removes the lot from the list of contracted lots immediately.

If the contracted lot has one or more releases, the Delete option is disabled, and a tooltip explains that a contracted lot with releases cannot be removed.

FAQ

What is the difference between Adjust weight and Edit?

Adjust weight changes the contracted weight or the unreleased weight. Edit changes the name, base price, and country of origin, and treats the contracted weight as read-only.

What happens to the country of origin when you release coffee?

The new or updated green lot takes the country of origin of the contracted lot. If the contracted lot has no country of origin, the country of origin of the green lot stays empty until you enter a value.

Can you link more than one green lot at a time?

No. You link green lots one at a time. A contract can have any number of linked green lots in total.

Where does Cropster store container numbers?

Cropster stores container numbers on the linked green lots. The Contract details page displays the container numbers of the green lots that are linked to the contract.

Need help?

You can contact us for more information.