Crops Q&A
- Lite Farm
Open questions
Q: Should any inputs be required for historical planting methods (e.g. where the crop is already in the ground and the user is documenting it after the fact)?
A: Perhaps not, but it doesn’t seem like too much of a burden given the user can bypass the historical planting method and just enter an estimated yield instead.
Answered questions
Q: How should crop management plans be ordered when viewed together?
A: crop management plans should be ordered based on their status and the earliest task as described in Crop management plan statuses and ordering | Crop management plan order.
Q: For seedlings or planting stock can we estimate any of the above dates from seeding date offsets?
A: No, not reliably. For example, a seedling will have already emerged while a tuber will not. Knowing the age of the parent plant when taking a cutting is irrelevant to the next harvest of the cutting.
Q: Is planting a different task from seeding?
A: No. It could be, but we feel it is a better experience for the user if there’s just one “planting” task that takes place with either a seed, seedling, or planting stock. Users cannot create a planting task without a crop management plan, so we will always know in advance whether it’s a seed, seedling, or planting stock so that attributes of a seeding task, such as seeding depth that aren’t relevant for planting aren’t displayed.
Q: Is it possible that a user will transplant a cover crop?
A: Yes. This is unlikely (especially in developed countries), but possible. One example is Leucaena leucocephala.
Q: When should we display the estimated seed required component (on planting methods)?
A: Only if the answer to “How will you plant this crop?” on LF-1448 is “Seed”. For crops being planted as seed that will also be transplanted, only the initial seeding planting method needs to show the estimated seed required component. For the transplant method, there won’t be any seeds involved so no need to estimate seed required.
Q: When should we display the estimated yield component (on planting methods)?
A: Only when the crop is in its' “final location”. For crops that will not be transplanted, it should be shown when sufficient information has been input (per Crop variables and calculations) to estimate the yield for the crop. For crops that will be transplanted, only the transplant method (the 2nd method) should display the estimated yield component.
Q: For a seedling that will be planted and then transplanted, do we need all 4 planting methods for the transplant task?
A: No - need all except broadcast.
Q: For crops denoted as “In the ground”, will they be transplanted?
A: Yes! This is how nurseries work.
Q: Should a user document the (historical) planting method when creating a crop management plan for something already in the ground?
In favor: Gives the user a “gut check” their plan is accurate and allows them to clone the whole plan later.
Against: Not immediately useful - may not know. Should just ask for estimated yield (optional) instead.
A: We’ll prompt the user to choose the method they prefer.
Q: Will wild crops ever be transplanted?
A: Yes! From natural areas to a field or from off the farm. Very common in agroforestry. What’s even more common is that someone will take seeds or cuttings from the “mother tree” and move them to your farm. In this case it wouldn’t be a transplant.
Q: Will wild crops be on locations on the map or in surrounding areas or both? If surrounding areas, enough to just know it’s “off farm” or should we drop a pin?
A: It’s very common to collect from off farm sources. Mostly collecting seeds rather than seedlings. Dropping a pin would be really valuable so you could communicate tasks more effectively to other folks on the team.
Q: For transplanted wild crops what planting methods are reasonable?
A: Everything except broadcast.
Q: When should estimated yield be a required field?
A: Estimated yield should be required for all final locations (e.g. those that are planted and will not be transplanted, or those that will be transplanted to a second location for that second location). For initial locations (e.g. those that will be transplanted, but haven’t been yet) the estimated yield is optional. The reason estimated yield is required for final locations is because this number gives us the estimated revenues for the farm for the season. Farmers will use these estimates to make their purchasing and staffing decisions.
Q: When should estimated seed required be a required input?
A: Estimated seed should always be optional. This is a “helpful” calculation we can provide to the farmer, but isn’t used anywhere else in the system at present.
Q: Should we display estimated seed required and estimated yield for historical planting methods (e.g. where the crop is already in the ground and the user is documenting it after the fact)?
A: Yes, these will be automatically populated by the data set so it shouldn’t be additional effort for the user. Estimated seed required is optional and estimated yield is required.
