Field reporting for an agri input company means recording three kinds of visits with the same care: dealer visits (stock, orders, payment, competition), farmer meetings (crop, problem, product recommended) and demo plots (a field followed through the season). Much of the year's sales is often decided in a few weeks of sowing and spraying, so the value of a report falls quickly with every day it is late.
What the office needs from each visit
| Visit | Question the office is asking |
|---|---|
| Dealer visit | How much of our product is on the shelf, what did the dealer order, what does he owe, what is the competitor pushing? |
| Farmer meeting | Which crop and stage, what problem, what did we recommend, will he buy? |
| Demo plot | Was it sown or applied as planned, how does it look, when is the next visit or field day? |
Dealer visit: the columns
| Column | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Date and rep | Who visited, when. | 30-09-2026, Prakash Reddy |
| Dealer and village or town | Same spelling every time so a dealer's history groups. | Sri Balaji Agro Centre, Hubballi |
| Outcome | Order, follow-up, no interest, not met. A fixed list. | Order |
| Products and quantity | What was ordered and how many bags, packs or litres. | Maize seed, 40 packets |
| Stock seen | Tells you what is about to run out or sit unsold. | Two cartons of insecticide left |
| Amount collected | Cash in against outstanding. | ₹25,000 |
| Competitor seen | Products and offers on display. | Rival hybrid on discount |
| Next visit date | Makes the report a follow-up list. | 07-10-2026 |
Farmer meeting and demo plot: the columns
| Column | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Farmer and village | Ties later visits to the same plot. | Mallappa Hiremath, Kundgol |
| Crop and stage | Advice depends on the stage. | Maize, 25 days |
| Problem noticed | Pest, disease, nutrient issue, weeds. | Fall armyworm on leaves |
| Product recommended or used | What was suggested or applied on the plot. | Our insecticide, 2 sprays |
| Plot photo | The evidence you will use at the field day. | Photo of the row |
| Next step | Re-visit, field day, dealer to stock. | Revisit in 10 days |
A filled-in example
| Who | Visit | Outcome | Quantity / amount | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sri Balaji Agro Centre | Dealer | Order | 40 packets, ₹25,000 collected | Deliver by 03-10-2026 |
| Mallappa Hiremath | Farmer | Follow-up | Fall armyworm, 2 sprays advised | Revisit 10-10-2026 |
| Demo plot, Kundgol | Demo | Progressing | Good stand, 25 days | Field day 20-10-2026 |
One demo plot across a season
A demo plot earns its keep only if each visit is a separate row under the same plot ID. This is what the history of one plot looks like when the field day comes:
| Plot ID | Date | Stage | Observation | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DP-07, Kundgol | 05-09-2026 | Sowing | Sown in rows, our seed and control plot side by side | Revisit in 15 days |
| DP-07, Kundgol | 20-09-2026 | 15 days | Even germination on both strips | Revisit in 10 days |
| DP-07, Kundgol | 30-09-2026 | 25 days | Good stand, armyworm on a few leaves | First spray done; field day 20-10-2026 |
Photos taken from the same spot on each visit make the comparison obvious to the farmers you invite.
Rules that keep the season's data useful
- Record the crop stage, not only the date. "25 days after sowing" tells you far more than a calendar date.
- Number your demo plots. A plot with an ID can be followed across five visits; "Hiremath's field" cannot.
- Separate what the dealer said from what you saw. "Stock is fine" is a claim; a photo of the godown is evidence.
- Log the competitor every time. One sighting is an anecdote, twenty in a district is market intelligence.
- Report the same day. In peak weeks, a report a week late is a report about last week's market.
What to review during the season
A weekly look at the sheet is enough to act on it while the season is still running:
- Dealers with low stock and no recent order. These are the sales you can still make this week.
- Outstanding payments by dealer. Compare collections against orders before extending more credit.
- Problem reports by village. Three farmers in one village reporting the same pest is a field alert your whole team should hear about.
- Demo plots due a visit. Sort by next visit date so no plot is forgotten before field-day week.
Common mistakes
- Reports written in English by reps who think in Kannada, Marathi or Telugu, which is slow and loses detail.
- Photos of plots with no plot ID, so nobody knows which farmer they belong to.
- Only orders being recorded, so dealers with no order and problem fields go unseen.
- Season-end reconstruction from memory when the plot visits were never written down.
For the broader visit format, see the market visit report format and the guide for FMCG distributors, whose dealer routines are similar.
Doing this with vBol
vBol is a product of the Indian company Vritti. A rep saves one WhatsApp number as a contact and sends a voice note, photo or location after each visit, in their own language, from the field or the dealer's counter:
vBol transcribes it, extracts the fields and reads the record back in the rep's language with buttons to confirm or fix a field. Nothing is written until they confirm. The row goes into your Google Sheet, an Excel workbook on OneDrive or SharePoint, or the matching module in Ekatm ERP, with photo and GPS location attached. At 7 PM the manager gets one WhatsApp message listing what was filed, by whom, and which reps sent nothing.
Dealer visits fit the built-in sales visit record (customer, outcome, next action and date, competitor seen, notes, photo, location, quantity, amount collected) and order record. Farmer meetings and demo plots with your own columns, such as crop, stage and plot ID, are record types Vritti sets up with you, along with the destination sheet.
Reps install no app and never log in. It works for a team of five or five thousand. It is free for 30 days (up to 5 confirmed reports per person per day), then ₹199 per user per month for teams of up to 100 users, with a custom plan for larger teams. See pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What should a dealer visit report for an agri input company include?
The dealer, date, stock position of your products, orders taken, payment collected or outstanding, competitor activity seen, and the next visit date. A photo of the shelf or godown helps.
What is a demo plot report?
It records a demonstration plot set up on a farmer's field: the farmer and location, crop and product used, sowing or application date, stage observed on each visit, photos and the outcome. Repeat visits over the season build the story you later show other farmers.
How often should field reps report in the agri season?
After every dealer or farmer visit, on the same day. Seasons are short, so a report that arrives a week late describes a market that has already moved.
Can reps report in Marathi, Kannada or Telugu?
Yes. With vBol they send a WhatsApp voice note in their own language, the extracted fields are read back to them in that language for confirmation, and the record goes into your sheet.