Agronomy is all about fields; fields are associated with customers; and customers can have as many fields added as they need. Once a customer has fields added to his account, you can plan what to grow on them, allocate products and services already applied to individual fields , associate soil test results and field scouting reports to them, and print a report that lists the entire fields’ history.
You can manage customer farm fields from two places: the Customer Account or the Field Manager.
What you'll find:
To manage farm fields from the Field Manager:
* indicates a required field
Navigate to Agronomy > Field Manager.
The Farm Field Search window opens.
Optionally change the search criteria to expand or contract the number of results returned.
The default is to return all active fields for growers from all locations.
Click Search.
The Field Manager window opens and the list of fields that meet the search criteria is shown.
Note
Existing fields can be Edited, and they can be Deleted if they haven’t been used.
Click Add.
The Add Customer Farm Field window opens.
Select a Customer*.
If you are adding a field from the customer's Agronomy Centre instead of from the Field Manager, the customer will be preselected.
In the Field Name* box, enter a unique (to this customer) name for the field.
Check Active? to flag the field as active.
Check Default Field? if this field is also the customer’s primary field.
Only one field can be the main field.
In the Legal Land Description box, enter the legal land description for the field.
In the Acres box, enter the number of acres for the field.
Acres are used in blending as well.
In the Comments box, enter comments about the field for your own use.
From the Ownership drop down list, select Owned or Rented.
Check the Irrigated? box if applicable.
Since this is a new field, the History will be blank.
Once you start adding CRM Activities, allocating products, linking soil tests, making crop plans, etc. that are linked to this field, the history items can be viewed from here.
You can add a map by clicking Map.
to link to the field history of another grower:
Fields often change hands - either through a change in ownership, or through a lease agreement. The field history is still pertinent, even though the customer is different. When you run the Field History report for a linked field, you'll see a link to View Linked History - that's the field history of the previous owner/grower.
Click Previous Owner.
The Previous Owner window opens.
Select the Customer account of the previous grower.
You can click Find to search for one.
Select the Field (it may not have the same name) of the previous grower.
All their Active fields are listed.
Click Update.
The Previous Owner window closes.
If the linked field has a map, the Copy Map window opens.
Click Yes to copy the map, outline, and markers from the prior grower.
Note
If you added a map before you linked to the field of a previous owner, you won't be prompted to copy the former map (which would overwrite the one you just created).
Tip
To unlink a field: click Previous Owner, clear both the Customer and Field, then Update.
A number appears in parenthesis e.g. (1) indicating link(s) to Previous Owner(s).
The Field Name, Legal Land Description, and Acres are copied over from the previous owner.
The map is copied if you asked for it.
Manually enter any additional information as required.
Click Update to save your changes.
The Add Farm Field window closes and the field is listed in the Field Manager window.
To map farm fields:
Navigate to Agronomy > Field Manager.
The Farm Field Search window opens.
Optionally change the search criteria to expand or contract the number of results returned.
Click Search.
The Field Manager window opens and the list of fields that meet the search criteria is shown.
Edit a field.
Click Map.
The Map Farm Field window opens.
You can find a field location by:
searching (using a legal land description or municipal address)
clicking your mouse to zoom in to the field level
importing a shapefile
to Search for a field location:
Choose a search criteria method: Legal Land Description or Address.
The default is by Legal Land Description.
Note
Currently searching by Legal Land Description is available only for fields in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
If searching by Legal Land Description, enter in the following order:
quarter
section
township
range
meridian
If searching by Address, type in one of the following search terms:
municipal address
city or town
postal code
landmark
(e.g. Regina airport, Elk Island Park)
latitude/longitude coordinates separated by a comma
(accepts both formats: hr:min:sec and decimals)
legal land description separated by spaces
(won’t always return a result)
Click Find.
The map centres over the search term and zooms in (you can change the default zoom level).
to Use your Mouse to pinpoint a field location:
Position your mouse over the general area of the field and double click.
The map centres over where you clicked and zooms in.
Keep double-clicking and zooming in until only the field is visible in the centre of the mapping window.
Click and drag to move the map up, down, left or right. Click the + and - buttons to zoom in and out.
If you want the Outline Colour or the Fill Colour to be different from the defaults, it's easier to select the new colours before importing a shapefile.
You can change the colours after by Editing the shapefile outlines and selecting new ones.
Click Import Shapefile.
The Choose a shapefile to import window opens.
Note
If you are a hosted agrē user, the "import from" directory may default to the C: drive on the Citrix server. You need to upload files from your computer, or from a computer on your local network.
Use the Navigation pane (left hand side of the window) to open the folder where the shapefiles are stored on a local drive on your computer, or on your local network drive.
All three components of the shapefile (.dbf, .shp, and .shx) must be in the same directory although only .shp files are displayed for import.
From the File List pane (right hand side of the window) select one or more shapefiles to upload to the farm field (select multiples using shift+click or control+click).
Click Open. The Choose a shapefile to import window closes and focus returns to the Map Farm Field window with field outline(s) in the colours selected.
Outlines are created automatically in the selected colours from the information in the shapefiles.
The outline Title can be changed.
Note
3D shapefile outlines can be imported, but they will be converted to 2D (agrē ignores the Z-value).
to add a Field Outline to a map:
To change the Outline Colour or Fill Colour, click the colour swatches before you start drawing.
(you can Edit the colours later, but it's easier to do it now)
Click Add Outline.
The mouse cursor changes to a +.
Give the outline a Title (optional).
The outline defaults to Active.
If you later want to hide the outline, select it, Edit it, uncheck the Active box, and Finish Outline. Inactive outlines names are shown in italics.
Outlines can also be deleted. Select the outline, and click Remove.
(just remember you won't see any changes until you Update the map)
Start clicking on the corners of the field.
Each click creates a new point.
You can drag any existing point to a new position (to make a curved section, for example).
A new midpoint will be inserted automatically to allow for further refinement.
(you can edit the outline later, by moving or adding new points)
Tip
If you accidentally move a midpoint to the wrong place, click the “go back” arrow to undo.
When the outline is complete, click Finish Outline.
The approximate number of acres enclosed within the outline is displayed in the lower right corner of the mapping window.
If you change your mind, click Outline (to select it) and then click Remove or Edit (to change the Title or the colours, or to deactivate it).
If the field has areas that are not adjacent, or you want to break down the field into zones with multiple outlines, click Add Outline to outline another area.
If you want the additional outlines to be different colours, change the outline and fill before you click Add Outline again.
agrē will display the approximate Area for each outline, as well as a total for all outlines.
Click Update to save to save the mapping information.
The Map Farm Field window closes and focus returns to the Add/Edit Farm Field window.
- or -
Continue on and add some field markers.
to add Markers to a map:
* indicates a required field
Markers can be used to indicate additional field features. Markers can be moved, edited, or deleted.
Click Add Marker.
The Marker Description window opens.
Type a Marker Title*.
Type any additional Marker Information (500 character max).
You can view the info on-screen by selecting the marker from the tree and clicking Show Info.
(optional) Click a different icon for the marker (the default is a green pointer).
Click Save.
The cursor changes to a + and the Marker Description window closes.
Click the location of the marker on the field to place the marker.
Note
Markers can be repositioned; just click one, drag it, and let go when it's in the right spot.
To change a marker's title, information, or icon: select the marker from the tree and click Edit.
Check the Show Marker Labels checkbox to toggle between displaying or hiding the marker labels.
Tips
Leave the Show Labels company config option checked if you usually want to see them, or uncheck it if you don't.
Markers can be copied if you need multiples (select the marker, click Copy Marker or press Alt+C, move your cursor to where the copy needs to be, and click).
If you change your mind, click the marker name (to select it) and then click Remove.
Click Update to save to save the mapping information.
The Map Farm Field window closes and focus returns to the Add/Edit Farm Field window.
At this point agrē saves a "screenshot" of how the map looks in the preview window that it will use when it displays the map on the Field Information report.
For example: if you added an outline, the outline will be in the screenshot; if you chose to show marker labels, those will be in the screenshot too. Until the map is updated (saved again) the screenshot will remain the same.
Click Update to save the field information.
The Add/Edit Farm Field window closes and a mapping icon appears in the field row in the Field Manager window.
You can upload a document from the customer account, but you can also upload from the Field Manager to associate a document to a particular field.
To attach documents to a field:
Navigate to Agronomy > Field Manager.
The Farm Field Search window opens.
Optionally change the search criteria to expand or contract the number of results returned.
Click Search.
The Field Manager window opens and the list of fields that meet the search criteria is shown.
Edit a field.
Click Documents.
From here it works just like uploading a document from the customer account, but the document is tagged to the selected field, not just to the customer in general.
Tip
If you usually want documents to Show in Grower Central, you can set that to be the default.
This will display multiple field maps on a single map.
To show multiple field maps on a single map:
Navigate to Agronomy > Field Manager.
The Field Manager window opens.
Use the New Search criteria to find the fields you want to map (for example, select a customer location to map all fields in that area).
Running One Big Map from the Field Manager allows you to display a map of farm fields for multiple customers.
Click Show Fields on Map.
The Select Fields window opens.
Select Yes - Show All Fields to map all the fields displayed in the Field Manager window.
The Select Fields window closes and the Farm Fields mapping window opens.
Select No - Select Fields to further refine the list of fields that will be mapped.
A new column appears in the Field Manager window allowing you to Select which fields to map.
Tip: use the Select All and Deselect All shortcuts to save time.
Click Show Fields on Map.
The Field Manager window closes and the Farm Fields mapping window opens.
Optionally display Field Names, Outline Names, Crop Year, and Crops.
(note that outlines titles of "Outline" will not be displayed)
Click Print to print the map.
Click Exit to close the map.
Navigate to the grower's Agronomy Customer Centre.
This limits you to displaying a map of farm fields for a single grower.
Select <All Fields>.
Click View Map.
agrē has two field reports:
The Field information reports list static details about a field (where it's located, how many acres, is it irrigated, etc.)
The Field History report lists details about what’s been applied to a field (this changes every year)
The Field Report puts all a field’s detailed information on one page. Like any other agrē report, Field Information can be printed, converted into a PDF file, or emailed.
To run a Field information report:
Navigate to Agronomy > Field Manager.
The Farm Field Search window opens.
Select a field and click Field Report.
The Field Information report opens.