Fresh produce ERP for Australian packhouses
From orchard to market in one system. Grower settlements, pallet tracking, and export compliance without the spreadsheets. Business Central with ProduceLinc replaces the disconnected tools that slow your packhouse down. Equerra is a ProduceLinc partner and implements this as a fixed price project from AUD $80,000.
Fresh produce operations are too complex for generic software
Australian fresh produce combines the unpredictability of agriculture with the compliance demands of food export. Seasonal peaks, variable quality, complex grower relationships, consignment trade, and strict market access rules mean generic ERP systems create more problems than they solve. You need a system built for how produce actually moves from orchard to market.
Spreadsheets running your packhouse
Many produce businesses still run on a patchwork of spreadsheets, legacy databases, and paper records. Grower settlements take days to calculate. Pack out data gets rekeyed. Nobody has a real time view of what is in the coolstore.
Disconnected systems across the supply chain
Grading lines, inventory, quality, grower payments, and export documentation often live in separate systems. Data gets entered multiple times and the numbers never quite match. By the time you have a report, the season has moved on.
Export compliance is manual and risky
Each market has its own phytosanitary requirements, labelling rules, and documentation standards. Preparing export shipments manually is slow and leaves room for errors that can delay consignments at port or worse, at destination.
Grower payment complexity
Calculating returns across different grading outcomes, pool structures, shared costs, consignment commissions, and market results is a significant administrative burden. Getting it wrong damages the grower relationships your business depends on.
No visibility from orchard to market
Without an integrated system you cannot answer basic questions quickly. How much fruit is in the coolstore by variety and grade? What has been shipped against orders? What are current returns by market? These answers should take seconds, not hours.
Seasonal pressure on outdated systems
Peak season exposes every weakness in your systems. When volume ramps up, manual processes that were manageable at low volume become bottlenecks. Staff overtime increases, errors multiply, and your team spends more time on admin than on the operation.
One platform from farm to general ledger
Business Central with ProduceLinc is a purpose built produce supply chain management solution. It handles every step from grower receival through grading, packing, storage, export, and settlement in a single integrated platform. Yaveon 365 adds food compliance capabilities. EQProduce fills Australian specific gaps. One system, one database, one login.
ProduceLinc
The core produce extension inside Business Central. Grower management, consignment trade with commission calculations, pallet tracking via Pallet Wizard and Editor, order processing, quality control, freight allocation, container management, demand planning, and pack instructions. This is the engine that runs your produce operation.
Primary produce managementYaveon 365
Supplements ProduceLinc with food compliance capabilities. FEFO and shelf life management enforced automatically. Lot management with configurable quality attributes. Structured inspection plans with electronic signatures and full audit trail. Quality assurance workflows that satisfy DAFF and HACCP requirements.
Food compliance and qualityEQProduce
Equerra's own extension that fills Australian specific gaps. GLOBAL G.A.P compliance workflows, phytosanitary documentation for export markets, grower settlement and pool accounting, seasonal planning and harvest forecasting, cold chain monitoring integration, and market pricing and returns analysis.
Australian specific produce workflowsWhat Business Central with ProduceLinc covers
Every capability runs inside Dynamics 365 Business Central. ProduceLinc provides the produce supply chain management. Yaveon adds food compliance. EQProduce fills Australian specific gaps. One connected platform for your entire operation.
Grower and producer management
Manage grower relationships, contracts, certifications, and delivery schedules. Track every grower from onboarding through to settlement with full visibility into their fruit performance.
Consignment trade and commission
ProduceLinc handles consignment trade management with automated commission calculations. Track consignment performance by grower, variety, grade, and market. Settlements calculated automatically.
Pallet management and verification
Pallet Wizard for creation, Pallet Editor for modifications. Every pallet verified, tracked through storage and consolidation, and followed to market. Full pallet history from pack to dispatch.
Quality control and lab integration
Quality inspections at receival, grading, and dispatch. Lab testing results flow directly into Business Central via integration. Every quality decision recorded against the lot and pallet.
FEFO and shelf life management
First Expiry First Out enforced automatically. Shelf life tracking by lot with hold periods and customer specific rules. Critical for perishables where you are working in days, not months.
Freight and container management
Freight allocation, container loading plans, and container tracking via API integrations. Manage the cold chain from coolstore to port to destination market with real time visibility.
Export compliance and phytosanitary
DAFF phytosanitary certificates, GLOBAL G.A.P records, biosecurity compliance, HACCP workflows, and organic certification tracking. Market specific documentation for China, Japan, US, EU, and UK.
Pack instructions and packhouse ops
Configure pack instructions by customer, market, and variety. Drive packhouse operations from orders through to packed and dispatched product. Grading data captured in real time.
Demand planning and supply management
Forecast demand by market, plan supply allocation, and manage orders against available inventory. Seasonal planning and harvest forecasting built around how produce seasons actually work.
Pool accounting and grower settlements
Support for co operative pools, consignment models, and direct purchase. Pool accounting calculates returns by grade, variety, and market. Automated settlement with full grower transparency.
Cold chain monitoring
Integration with temperature monitoring systems across coolstores, transport, and container shipments. Temperature excursions flagged automatically against the affected lots and pallets.
Market pricing and returns analysis
Track market pricing by variety, grade, and destination. Analyse returns against forecast and historical performance. Power BI dashboards for real time visibility into margin by grower, market, and season.
Australian produce compliance built into the platform
Every compliance requirement Australian fresh produce exporters face is handled inside the system. Not as an afterthought or a separate module, but as part of how the platform operates every day. Compliance records are created as your team works, not assembled for audits.
DAFF phytosanitary
Phytosanitary certificates and packing declarations generated from system data. Compliance validated before shipment. Full audit trail for DAFF inspectors.
GLOBAL G.A.P
Grower certifications, chemical application records, and audit packs tied to individual lots. GLOBAL G.A.P audits run straight from the system rather than assembled from spreadsheets.
Export market protocols
Market specific documentation for China, Japan, US, EU, and UK. Each market's requirements are validated before shipment so issues are caught at your coolstore, not at the destination port.
HACCP food safety
HACCP workflows, critical control points, hold and release decisions logged with full audit trail. Every batch carries compliance records that satisfy food safety audits.
Biosecurity compliance
Biosecurity requirements tracked per shipment and destination. Documentation generated automatically. Compliance checks run before any product leaves your facility.
Organic certification
Organic certification tracking by grower, orchard block, and lot. Segregation maintained through the supply chain. Certification status visible at every step from receival to dispatch.
Fresh produce ERP options for Australian packhouses
Here is how the main ERP options compare for Australian fresh produce operations.
In short: ProduceLinc on Business Central is purpose built for produce supply chain management. Aptean Foodware is a strong Australian specific option. Infor and SAP serve larger enterprise operations. The real difference is not just the software but the implementation partner and how well they understand Australian produce compliance, seasonal workflows, and grower relationships.
Equerra implements Business Central with ProduceLinc for Australian fresh produce operations. Talk to us if you want an honest assessment of which option fits your packhouse.
From discovery to go live
Discover
We visit your packhouse and coolstore operations. We map grower workflows, packing processes, consignment structures, and export requirements. We walk the floor and understand exactly where your current systems fall short before we propose anything.
Implement
We configure Business Central with ProduceLinc around your seasonal workflows, grower structures, and export markets. Implementation is timed to avoid peak season disruption. Phased rollout with real data and hands on training for your packhouse team.
Support
After go live, we provide ongoing support through each season. New growers, new markets, new compliance requirements, and new export protocols are handled as your operation grows. Your system evolves with your business.
Fresh produce ERP questions for Australian packhouses
What ERP do Australian fresh produce and packhouse operators use?
Australian fresh produce operators run Dynamics 365 Business Central with ProduceLinc, a purpose built produce supply chain management solution. ProduceLinc handles grower management, consignment trade, pallet tracking, quality control, and export logistics natively inside Business Central. Equerra implements this as a fixed price project from AUD $80,000, covering packhouse operations, grower settlements, GLOBAL G.A.P compliance, DAFF phytosanitary documentation, and export certification for every major market.
What is ProduceLinc and how does it work with Business Central?
ProduceLinc is a produce supply chain management extension built directly on Dynamics 365 Business Central. It covers farm to general ledger operations including grower management, consignment trade with commission calculations, pallet verification and tracking, order processing with quality reporting, freight allocation, container management, demand planning, and packhouse operations. Because it runs inside Business Central, your produce operations and financial reporting live in one system. There is no integration layer or data sync to manage.
How does the system handle grower settlements and pool accounting?
ProduceLinc manages multiple grower payment models including consignment trade with commission calculations, pool based returns, and direct purchase. The system calculates grower settlements based on grade, pack out results, market returns, and pool performance. Equerra extends this with seasonal planning and pool accounting workflows through EQProduce. Payments are automated on your settlement cycle with full transparency for growers through reporting.
Can the system track pallets from packhouse to market?
Yes. ProduceLinc includes a Pallet Wizard and Pallet Editor for complete pallet lifecycle management. Every pallet is verified at creation, tracked through coolstore storage and consolidation, and followed through freight allocation and container loading. Container tracking via API integrations means you can see where your product is between port and destination market. Quality records travel with each pallet.
What export compliance does the system cover?
The platform covers DAFF phytosanitary requirements, GLOBAL G.A.P certification tracking, biosecurity compliance, HACCP food safety workflows, and organic certification. EQProduce adds phytosanitary documentation generation for specific export markets including China, Japan, US, EU, and UK. Export market protocols are validated before shipment so compliance issues are caught before product leaves your coolstore, not at the destination port.
How does quality control work in the system?
ProduceLinc includes quality control and inspection modules that capture quality data at receival, during grading, and at dispatch. Lab integrations connect external testing results directly into Business Central. Yaveon 365 supplements this with structured inspection plans, configurable quality attributes per lot, and electronic signatures for audit trail. Every quality decision is recorded against the specific lot and pallet it relates to.
Does the system handle FEFO and shelf life for perishables?
Yes. Yaveon 365 provides First Expiry First Out rotation enforced automatically across all storage locations. Shelf life tracking by lot with configurable hold periods, customer specific expiry rules, and real time visibility into stock approaching expiry. For fresh produce this is critical because you are managing days, not months. The system flags product that needs to move before it becomes waste.
How much does a fresh produce ERP implementation cost in Australia?
Equerra fresh produce implementations are fixed price from AUD $80,000 for smaller single site operations. Mid sized packhouses with grading line integration, multiple grower pools, export workflows, and ProduceLinc typically fall in the AUD $120,000 to AUD $250,000 range. We publish indicative pricing on our pricing page rather than asking you to get in touch first.
When should we time a packhouse ERP implementation?
Never during peak season. We time Australian packhouse implementations to go live in the quiet period before the main harvest window for your crop. For kiwifruit that means early season, for apples late summer, for avocados before the August harvest. We phase the rollout so training and parallel running are done before volume ramps up. Your team needs to be confident in the system before the first bins arrive.
Is this one system or multiple systems bolted together?
It is one platform. Business Central is the foundation. ProduceLinc runs inside Business Central as a native extension for produce supply chain management. Yaveon 365 adds food compliance capabilities like FEFO and quality assurance. EQProduce fills Australian specific gaps around phytosanitary documentation, GLOBAL G.A.P workflows, and grower settlements. Everything runs in a single database, one login, one user interface. Your team works in one system, not three.
Keep exploring
Fresh produce is one of several verticals Equerra implements on Dynamics 365 Business Central. See our transparent pricing for implementation costs, or read related industry pages for seafood, food manufacturing, meat processing, and general manufacturing.
Ready to bring your produce operations into one platform?
Tell us about your packhouse and we will get back to you within 24 hours with honest advice on whether Business Central with ProduceLinc is the right fit for your operation.
No sales pitch. A real person reads every message.
Fixed price implementations from AUD $80,000.
NZ based team. We visit your packhouse.
ProduceLinc partner with Australian produce expertise.