GAP audits: what auditors look for in visitor, contractor and induction records

Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) schemes rarely ask for a "visitor book" by name. What they ask for is evidence: that people working on the orchard were trained or inducted, named and dated; that contractors meet the standard you are certified to; and that your records are kept, secure and easy to produce. A good record of who came onto the orchard, what they were shown and when, feeds all three.

Each scheme has its own documents and its own wording, so this guide takes them one at a time. Read the section for the scheme you are certified to, and check the details against that scheme's current documents, which are linked below.

Which scheme applies to you

Many New Zealand growers are certified because their marketer or customers ask for it. The schemes covered here:

• GLOBALG.A.P. The international standard. For fruit and vegetables the current standard is Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) version 6, in two editions: Smart, and GFS for growers who need recognition under the Global Food Safety Initiative.
• NZGAP. New Zealand's own GAP programme, with several options. NZGAP-Global version 7 is recognised by GLOBALG.A.P. as a fully benchmarked scheme. NZGAP also runs a separate standard for contractors.
• Zespri GAP. For kiwifruit supplied to Zespri, with its own contractor programme built around the Compliance Assessment Verification, or CAV.

If you are not sure which applies, your certification body, packhouse or marketer will know.

GLOBALG.A.P. (IFA version 6, fruit and vegetables)

GLOBALG.A.P. publishes its standards openly. These points come from the IFA version 6 Smart principles and criteria for fruit and vegetables. If you are certified to the GFS edition, check its own wording.

Keeping records

Records kept for auditing must be:

• stored securely, readily accessible and kept up to date;
• kept for at least two years, or longer if your customers require it;
• "valid and backed-up, if used in electronic format";
• in place for at least three months before your first certification audit, or from the day you registered, whichever is longer.

Training and induction records

Induction and refresher training must be recorded. Training records relevant to the standard must include:

• the date of the training and how long it took;
• the topics covered;
• who gave the training;
• the names of the people trained, for example an attendance list;
• evidence that they attended, for example a signature.

This is where many orchards come unstuck. An induction given verbally at the shed, with nothing written down, is hard to prove months later.

Subcontractors

You must oversee the work your subcontractors do, so that it meets the parts of the standard that apply to them. This applies to each activity and season in which you use at least one subcontractor. Evidence of that oversight has to be available at your audit. Subcontractors must either be trained by you or be able to show their competence through previous training or certification.

Visitors

Visitors appear in two places:

• Hygiene. Your documented hygiene procedures must include signs or pictograms, in the language most of your workforce speaks, describing the hygiene measures for workers, visitors and subcontractors.
• Food defence. Your food defence system must make workers, visitors and subcontractors aware of the need to support food defence measures, through training, signs or pictograms.

NZGAP

NZGAP-Global version 7 replaced the NZGAP GLOBALG.A.P. Equivalent (version 6.2). NZGAP describes version 7 as reviewed and accepted as meeting the equivalent outcomes of GLOBALG.A.P.'s rules and its principles and criteria for fruit and vegetables. In practice, expect the same kinds of evidence as the GLOBALG.A.P. section above, but use NZGAP's own wording: the NZGAP-Global v7 Standard and Self-Assessment Checklist are on NZGAP's website, linked below.

NZGAP also runs a Contractor Standard, for contractors working for NZGAP, Social Practice add-on, GLOBALG.A.P. and GRASP certified growers. It covers agrichemical, fertiliser and produce handling contractors, and other services such as pruning and beekeeping. In NZGAP's words, using certified contractors is "a means for growers and other supply chain operators to demonstrate the contractors they engage have met the requirements of these standards". NZGAP keeps a public register where you can check a contractor's status.

Zespri GAP (kiwifruit)

If you supply kiwifruit to Zespri, your contractors are part of Zespri's GLOBALG.A.P. Contractor Programme.

The CAV

• A contractor must hold a valid CAV to work on any kiwifruit orchard that supplies Zespri.
• A CAV is valid for 12 months and is renewed after an annual inspection by a Zespri-approved inspector.
• Contractors must give copies of their CAV to every grower they work with.
• Zespri publishes a list of registered contractors that shows each one's status.
• The programme covers GAP sections (systems, biosecurity, nutrient management, environment, agrichemicals, food safety, and health and safety) and GRASP sections on workers' rights, which include time recording systems and working hours and breaks.

When a contractor falls out of compliance

• Corrective actions must normally be completed within 28 days.
• Zespri can warn, suspend or cancel. A suspended contractor cannot work on kiwifruit orchards supplying Zespri until reinstated, and may be named on the Contractor Register and Zespri's websites.
• If six months pass after a suspension without the corrective action, the contractor's registration is cancelled.

The practical point for growers: check a contractor's status before they start, and keep a record that you did. A CAV that expired last month is easy to miss when the crew is already at the gate.

Biosecurity plans for kiwifruit contractors

Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) adds one more check. Its rules for contractors under the kiwifruit Pathway Management Plan say "growers need to ensure the contractors who come on to their orchards have evidence that they either hold a current Zespri CAV or have completed a Non-CAV Contractors Biosecurity Plan." See Biosecurity at the orchard gate for more.

Record retention

Zespri GAP sets its own rules for how long records are kept, in the documents on Zespri's grower site, Canopy, which needs a login. Check the current figure there, or with your packhouse, and set your record keeping to match.

What to have ready on the day

Whichever scheme you are in, pick any one site and any date range, and check you can produce these quickly:

1. Who came onto the orchard. Each person by name, their company, and their time in and out.
2. What each person was shown. The induction, hazards or site rules, and which version, with evidence they saw it.
3. Training details your scheme asks for. For GLOBALG.A.P., that includes the date, how long it took, the topics and who gave it.
4. Contractor evidence. Certificates and their dates: a current CAV, NZGAP contractor status or other certification, and any biosecurity plan you rely on.
5. Your oversight of subcontracted work. What you checked, when, and what you found.
6. Where the records live and how they are backed up. Especially if they are electronic.
7. The full period your scheme requires, not just this season.

The usual gaps are predictable: inductions done verbally with nothing written down, a signature sheet that says nothing about what was covered, contractor certificates that expired mid-season, and records spread across sheds, utes and inboxes.

How GateBud helps

GateBud™ is QR visitor check-in for orchards. It helps you prepare and retrieve audit evidence. It does not decide whether that evidence meets your scheme: that is between you and your auditor.

• Every visit is in the Visitor log: name, company, site, time in and time out, and the answers to your check-in questions.
• For documents you mark as required, GateBud saves the exact version each person confirmed before entry.
• You can filter the Visitor log by site and date range and export exactly that view, as a formatted PDF report or a CSV spreadsheet. Corrected times are shown alongside the originals.
• You can ask contractors for details at check-in, such as their company or CAV number, as a check-in question. GateBud records the answer; checking it against Zespri's list or NZGAP's register is still up to you.
• You choose how many years visitor names are kept, from 1 to 20, so you can match the period your scheme asks for.

What GateBud does not record today: how long an induction took, or who delivered it. If your scheme asks for those, keep them alongside.

For the day-to-day side of these records, read Visitor and contractor sign-in on NZ orchards.

Sources

All checked on 1 October 2026.

• GLOBALG.A.P., Integrated Farm Assurance Smart principles and criteria for fruit and vegetables, version 6.0, criteria 01.02, 03.03, 03.04, 04.01, 15.01 and 19.02.
• GLOBALG.A.P., Integrated Farm Assurance for fruit and vegetables.
• NZGAP, NZGAP-Global.
• NZGAP, NZGAP Contractor Standard.
• Zespri, What is a CAV and how do I get one?
• Zespri, Contractor requirements.
• Zespri, Non-compliances, corrective actions and sanctions.
• Zespri, Contractor FAQs.
• Kiwifruit Vine Health, Contractors.