Build your first-season plan around the decisions you can verify. Start with two realistic site options, an approximate operating scale, and a plan for what happens to the crop after harvest. If you have only one site in mind, compare two sizes or planting windows at that site.
Compare the options
Use one sheet per option and fill in the same fields for both. Mark uncertain inputs so your team can focus its next calls and site visits.
- Site. Record the county, growing area, control of the property, and any site access constraints.
- Scale. Record planned area and your estimate of how much material you’ll need to handle.
- People and dates. Identify who owns licensing, lot records, sampling, harvest, and storage. Give each step a working date.
- After harvest. Write down how you expect to dry, store, process, or move the material and who you need to speak with about it.
- Open questions. Name the decision, the person who can resolve it, and the date by which you need an answer.
Walk through the handoffs
If your plan assumes the crop can move directly from harvest to processing, ask what the receiving party needs, when they can accept material, and what happens if harvest moves. If you’ll hold material first, identify where and who will track lots through storage. Build those answers into the timeline so your plan includes the work after harvest.
Confirm the licensing authority and current application requirements for the site before setting a planting date. Then reserve time for reporting and preharvest sampling. A calendar that assigns each handoff to a person is easier to act on than a list of estimated dates.
Bring the open decision to Carbon
Tell Carbon what stage you’re in, where the project would operate, and the specific question you want to talk through. A message such as “We’re comparing two sites in the same county and need to understand what information a processor will ask for” gives the team something concrete to respond to.