A sample plot check

This is what comes back when you send us one supplier’s plot file. The cooperative and its plots are made up. Every plot result and message below is what our checks reported for this file, word for word, and the screening is what the satellite data and maps showed for these locations.

The file: A spreadsheet of 35 plots from a made-up coffee cooperative in Sidama, Ethiopia: farmer ID, kebele, GPS point and size for each plot, and a boundary for 2 large ones.
Checked against: The EU’s rules for plot locations: six decimal places, inside the country of production, a boundary for any plot over 4 hectares, boundaries that don’t cross themselves, and one location per plot.

What came back

29 of the 35 plots can go into a due diligence statement as they are. 6 need fixing by the cooperative first, and 5 of the 29 are worth a second look.

Ready (24)
Ready, worth a check (5)
Fix needed (6)

Needs fixing before filing

Row numbers are the rows in the cooperative’s spreadsheet. The messages are written for the cooperative’s manager, who reads them on a phone.

Row 10 · SFC-109
Latitude and longitude look swapped (the point lands outside Ethiopia). Tap “Swap” to fix.
Row 12 · SFC-111
This plot is 6.5 ha. Plots over 4 hectares must be mapped as a boundary (polygon), not a single point.
Row 16 · SFC-115
Location precision is only about 1,113 m (2 decimal places) — too rough to locate a farm. Re-record it with a GPS app.
Row 24 · SFC-123
The boundary crosses itself. Re-draw it walking around the plot in one direction.
Row 26 · SFC-125
Same location as row 4. Each plot needs its own location.
Row 30 · SFC-129
No location found in this row. Add latitude and longitude, or a boundary.

Ready, but worth a second look

These plots can be filed, but each has something the cooperative should confirm.

Row 8 · SFC-107
Location precision is about 11.1 m (4 decimal places). EU rules ask for 6 decimal places — re-record with a GPS app if you can.
Row 18 · SFC-117
Plot size missing. Add the size in hectares — it decides whether a GPS point is enough (4 ha or less).
Row 21 · SFC-120
Only 5 m from row 20 (SFC-119, Member 119). Two plots can't be at the same spot — was this GPS point taken away from the farm, for example at the washing or buying station? Record it on the plot itself.
Row 22 · SFC-121
Only 5 m from row 20 (SFC-119, Member 119). Two plots can't be at the same spot — was this GPS point taken away from the farm, for example at the washing or buying station? Record it on the plot itself.
Row 28 · SFC-127
Location precision is about 11.1 m (4 decimal places). EU rules ask for 6 decimal places — re-record with a GPS app if you can.

Screening the 29 plots that passed

The plots are made up, but their locations are real places in Sidama, so these are the results the satellite data and maps give there. We ran the 29 plots through both checks on 23 October 2026.

Tree-cover loss after 31 December 2020: None found on any of the 29 plots. Global Forest Watch satellite data at 30-metre resolution.
Forest and farmland maps for 2020: 27 plots low risk; 2 go to a person. FAO’s Whisp service, more than 40 public map layers including the EU’s own 2020 forest map.

Row 29 · SFC-128
At the GPS point, six maps show trees or forest at the end of 2020 and a seventh shows natural land; no crop map shows a farm, and nothing has been cleared there since. Across the plot’s 2.3 hectares around the point, the maps show trees on most of it, but also clearing before 2020 on over half of it, which on its own reads as low risk. Checking the point itself is what raised it.
What settles it: when the farm was planted, from the cooperative’s member register or older imagery.
Row 18 · SFC-117
The EU’s own 2020 forest map shows forest within the area checked around the GPS point. Whisp’s overall verdict was low risk, but anything on the EU’s map goes to a person.
Its size is missing, so it was checked as 4 hectares, the most a point may cover. Once the size is known, both checks run again on the right area.

After the check

Free check. You get this list within three business days, with the screening of every plot that passes. We don’t contact your supplier.
Supplier file fix. The cooperative gets its own upload link and sees these same messages on its phone the moment it uploads. We follow up through up to two rounds of corrections.
Ready to file. The plots that pass go into the EU geolocation file, and every check is kept on record for five years.

The plots that passed, in the EU’s format

The 29 plots that passed, as the GeoJSON file you add to your due diligence statement: one entry per plot with the producer, the country, the place and the size. A plot of up to 4 hectares can be a point; a larger one must be a boundary. Two of the 29:

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "ProducerName": "Member 101",
        "ProducerCountry": "ET",
        "ProductionPlace": "Kebele 02",
        "Area": 2.7
      },
      "geometry": {
        "type": "Point",
        "coordinates": [38.574106, 6.743883]
      }
    },
    … 27 more plots …
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "ProducerName": "Member 113",
        "ProducerCountry": "ET",
        "ProductionPlace": "Kebele 02",
        "Area": 5.1864
      },
      "geometry": {
        "type": "Polygon",
        "coordinates": [
          [
            [38.501969, 6.719976],
            [38.504031, 6.719976],
            [38.503928, 6.722127],
            [38.501969, 6.722024],
            [38.501969, 6.719976]
          ]
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

The files

The plot list we checked (CSV, 35 plots)
The check report the cooperative downloads (CSV, every row with its result)
The EU geolocation file for the 29 plots that passed (GeoJSON)

Check one of your own files

Send us one supplier’s plot file, in whatever state it’s in. You’ll get the same check, with the screening, free.

Send us one supplier’s plot file

Or send it on WhatsApp to +1 832 646 9757.