Understanding Material Types

Material types are attributes that represent the physical state of a crop. Typically, you use material types in blending operations, but you can setup a farming operation to change the material type. The item number on the material type is a required field, but it applies to blend operations. The system uses the material type to identify the AAIs that it uses for journal entries that are created by blend operations.

As you perform farming operations, the material type can change to reflect the stage of the crop as it grows from seed to plant to a mature crop ready for harvesting. When defining a farming operation, you can specify what material types are valid for the operation. For example, a pruning operation may be valid only until a plant flowers, after which no pruning operations are allowed.

Related material types can be grouped into a summary material type. You can set up rules for combining material types. For example, you can set up a rule that states that when juice is combined with grapes, the resulting material type is fermenting must. Additionally, you can set up a rule that states that when juice is combined with must, the resulting material type is juice.