Choose the format around how the record will be completed, shared and retrieved. For Northern Ireland, keep the detailed electronic-format requirements and the 2027 transition attached to the decision. A paper notebook, an Excel workbook and a PDF report have different roles in that workflow.
Choose the layout before choosing the binding
The Scottish Annex F guidance suggests that written records can use a large book opened across a double page, allowing columns to be adapted and the information seen together. The model includes worker, job reference, date, site, crop or area, reason, product identity, dose and application information.
If you prefer paper, compare the actual column headings with the jobs you perform. Leave enough space to identify every product in a mixture, the units and the portion treated. An attractive cover does not resolve a column that is too narrow to distinguish different blocks or product names.
For an orchard or vineyard, decide how you will identify blocks and varieties in the location directory. For a contractor, decide how the customer and job reference will connect to the main book. These are editorial filing choices, rather than a claim that a particular commercial notebook is officially approved.
Keep the central application fields together
DAERA's core professional-user description includes the product name, application time and dose, treated area and crop. It states at least three years' retention. Use those facts as a starting point when reviewing whether a book's layout can describe the actual operation.
| Part of the record | Practical layout choice |
|---|---|
| Job identity | Stable reference and identifiable location |
| Treatment timing | Clear date and application-time fields |
| Product details | Separate space for each product and unit |
| Treated crop and area | Actual crop and completed treatment extent |
| Operator information | Recognisable name linked to the operation |
| Supporting documents | Reference to the label, instruction or assessment kept elsewhere |
The right column is a suggested organisation method. For the applicable duties and detailed territorial distinctions, use pesticide record keeping requirements. Keep any additional customer or assurance requirements attached to their own source.
Paper book: make the archive understandable
Use a consistent field directory and date style from the beginning of the season. Give each completed application an identifiable reference. Keep the original page intact if you later transcribe it into a workbook, and record the relationship between the two versions in your archive index.
Annex F instructs users to show all products when a mixture is used. It also includes dose per hectare, total product quantity, total area, start and finish times and weather. Those fields help distinguish quantities that a short note such as “one tank” leaves unexplained.
For a correction, retain enough information to understand the original entry and the reason for the change. If you provide a customer copy, make its job reference and version clear. Keep unrelated quotations or invoices outside the treatment sequence so they cannot be mistaken for completed applications.
Excel book: preserve the working structure
DAERA's official publication supplies an agricultural and horticultural spray-record workbook alongside guidance and crop-code material. Its user guide describes a crop dropdown that populates the EPPO code. Start from the actual download and retain the accompanying instructions with your working copy.
Make the working file and archived versions distinguishable. Use a business and season identifier in the filename and decide who can edit the master. Before copying a previous treatment, compare the new crop, product, dates and area rather than carrying last season's values into a new operation.
Check a completed row by reading it across, including the fields outside the visible screen. A printout may not show every column. Keep the structured file available so an archive does not consist only of a cropped or abbreviated reading copy.
Northern Ireland: paper is not the final format decision
In Northern Ireland, paper records remain acceptable through 31 December 2026; mandatory machine-readable records apply to uses from 1 January 2027. Existing record-keeping duties continue during 2026.
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DAERA has postponed mandatory electronic transfer of NI usage records until 1 January 2027. Its guidance distinguishes the detailed record content from the electronic transition and says existing record-keeping requirements continue during 2026.
The guidance names CSV, XLSX, XML and JSON as machine-readable examples and excludes PDFs and scanned images as the structured original. If you start with paper notes, plan how they will be transferred into the required electronic format; photographing a notebook page alone does not create the structured record described by DAERA.
For the timetable and conversion detail, use digital spray records. For the official workbook's fields, use the DAERA template guide. Keep these NI requirements separate from any decision about a paper book for a Great Britain operation.
Contractor records and shared books
A shared book needs an understandable handover procedure. Identify which operator completed an entry and which person maintains the retained archive. Agree how a customer receives the information for their own job without losing the contractor's original history.
DAERA's NI contractor guidance places creation and retention of the compliant original with the contractor. It separately permits a contracting business to keep a reference PDF while the contractor maintains the machine-readable original. Do not let “the customer has the printout” stand in for locating the retained structured record.
When collecting a contractor's record, compare the job, site and treated area against the actual work. Ask about an unclear product unit or incomplete entry before filing it. For the detailed handover workflow, continue with contract sprayer records.
Moving an existing book into a digital journal
Keep the original source and mark the period being transferred. Start with a manageable set of identifiable entries and compare the imported data field by field. Check product names, units, dates, field references and treatment extents against the source rather than relying on the number of rows imported.
If handwriting is ambiguous, ask the original author to clarify it and retain that explanation. Do not invent a missing value to make an import appear complete. Keep unresolved source information distinguishable from a verified transcription in the administrative migration notes.
After transfer, choose a treatment and retrieve it through the new directory. Confirm that the associated original page or file can still be located. Preserve the existing retention obligation through the system change; DAERA describes at least three years for professional-user records.
Evaluate the book by a real retrieval task
Ask someone familiar with the farm to find the most recent treatment for a named block. Have them identify the product, dose unit and actual treated area, then locate the supporting instruction. Note any dependency on an undocumented nickname or a single person's memory.
Use that exercise to decide whether the format suits your workflow. A paper index, structured workbook or journal can all be organised more clearly by consistent references; the applicable legal format still needs its own territorial check. The spray log app guide offers a broader software-evaluation checklist.
The official forms and guidance supply their own requirements; choosing a journal does not replace an official submission.
Compare formats with a representative treatment
Before moving the whole archive, choose a completed operation containing the kinds of information your farm actually records. Enter it in the proposed layout and retrieve it through the intended field directory. Compare the entry with its original document, including the units and any supporting references that do not fit in the first visible columns.
For a paper layout, assess legibility, space for mixtures and the relationship between facing pages. For a workbook, check the working copy, archived copy and reading printout independently. For a mobile journal, evaluate the completed record and exported file rather than judging only the ease of creating the first screen.
Ask an office colleague to repeat the retrieval without help. Note where a private nickname, unexplained abbreviation or inconsistent date style causes uncertainty. Adjust the directory or headings before transferring more historical information. Keep the source originals until the migrated entries have been reconciled and the archive procedure is clear.
For several operators, agree who resolves corrections and how a revised customer copy is identified. The format decision should include that handover, alongside the ease of writing an entry in the field. This proposed comparison exercise supplies no endorsement of a particular notebook, spreadsheet or software provider.