Configure

After installing FARMDATA on your webserver, use this configuration procedure to quickly populate basic information about your farm. To access the configuration procedure, add /setup to the end of your FARMDATA URL. For example, if the URL for your FARMDATA installation is: https://myfarm.com/farmdata
the URL for the configuration procedure is: https://myfarm.com/farmdata/setup
You will be prompted for the username and password that was created during the installation procedure.

Note: To begin using FARMDATA, you must enter some background information about your fields, harvest units, and crop names. Cover crops, tillage implements, and spray materials are optional features that you may desire to use for your farm. The developers designed this rapid setup interface to help new users get started with a minimum of tedious data entry. While all of the information requested in the configuration setup steps can also be entered through the admin functions in FARMDATA, we recommend using the rapid setup interface if at all possible to save time.

If you don't have some of the information or are uncomfortable making a decision at some point in the configuration procedure, use the "Skip" button on that page to move on to the next page. To make the most effective use of the configuration procedure, please read through the following steps and collect the relevant information before proceeding. You can also use the "Skip" button to go through the entire procedure to see what information is needed, and then run the configuration procedure again after collecting the information.

• Configuration steps:
  • 1. License Agreement
  • 2. Adding Fields
  • 3. Adding Harvest Units
  • 4. Configuring Invoice Units
  • 5. Adding Crops
  • 6. Adding Harvest Unit Conversions
  • 7. Adding Cover Crops
  • 8. Adding Tillage Implements
  • 9. Adding Spray Materials
  • 10. Final Configuration

Configuration steps:

1. License Agreement

FARMDATA is licensed under the Gnu General Public License, version 3.0 (GPL-3.0). The key points of the license agreement are:

• FARMDATA is provided with no warranty, implied or otherwise.
• You are allowed to do anything that you like with FARMDATA except selling it to others. In particular, you are welcome to modify the code and to share it with anyone.

Please read the license agreement. You must accept it by clicking "Yes" before using FARMDATA.

2. Adding Fields

Add information about your fields here:

• Each field must have a name (FieldID).
• The length is the length of the longest side of the field that runs parallel to the beds (i.e. the length of the longest bed).
• We recommend entering the length and the size (in acres) and letting FARMDATA calculate the number of beds. Unless the field is perfectly rectangular, the number of beds will not be an integer. FARMDATA considers the length of a bed to be the length of the longest bed as described above, so a field that is somewhat triangular in shape and that appears to have 5 beds to a person will have a smaller number of beds to FARMDATA.
• Bed spacing refers to the width of each bed including the pathways. If your beds share a pathway, estimate the width of the bed plus half of the shared pathway. One way to field test your figure is to measure the width of several actual beds, then divide by the number of beds to derive an average value. The default is 5 feet, but this should be edited if you use wider or narrower beds.
• Click "Submit All Fields to Database" when you are finished entering field data, or "Skip" to discard any field data you have entered and go on to the next step.

3. Adding Harvest Units

Add any units that you use to measure harvests here. Typical examples are: pound, quart, each, ...
The installation procedure provides a suggested list of harvest units. Delete any of the units that you don't wish to use, and use the "New Row" button to add additional units. Click "Submit All Data to Database" to save your harvest units and go on, or "Skip" to discard them and go on to the next step.

4. Configuring Invoice Units

This step is provided for farms that use different units for harvesting and marketing the same crops. For example, you may wish to harvest beets in bunches and then sell them to a large customer in cases of 12 pounds each. Click "No" at this step if you don't plan to use the invoicing features of FARMDATA, or if you always use the same units to harvest and market each crop. Otherwise, click "Yes".

5. Adding Crops

Add your crops here. The installation procedure provides a suggested list of crops, along with a default unit (used for harvesting) and invoice unit and units per case (if you clicked "Yes" in the previous step).

• Use the "Delete" button to delete any crops that you don't grow.
• Adjust the default unit (and invoice unit and units per case) to match your harvesting and invoicing preferences.
• Use the "New Row" button to add additional crops.
• Edit a crop name or spelling by clicking on a crop name and changing the text. For a clean look to your FARMDATA site, we recommend maintaining some consistency in how crops are named - for example, using a comma, hyphen or colon to separate two word crop names (TOMATO, CHERRY).
• Take an extra minute to check over your crop names to be sure you’ll be happy with them for the long run. New crop names can always be added later through the Admin->Add->Crop->Crop tab in FARMDATA.
• Click "Submit All Data to Database" to save your crops and go on, or "Skip" to discard them and go on to the next step.

6. Adding Harvest Unit Conversions

FARMDATA allows you to harvest the same crop in different units, as long as you specify a conversion factor. For example, if the default unit for a crop is "QUART", you may also like to harvest this crop in "PINT"s, with a conversion factor of 2. This step allows you to specify any additional units and conversion factors for each crop.

• Each cell specifies the conversion factor from the unit at the top of the column to the default unit for the crop (on the row).
• The conversion factor from the default unit to itself is always 1.
• If you don't plan to use a particular unit for harvesting a given crop, leave that cell blank.
• The conversion factor is always the value to divide by in order to convert to the default unit. For example, if the default unit is "QUART", the conversion factor for "PINT" is 2.
• The configuration procedure supplies suggested conversions for some crop/unit combinations. Edit or delete these as you wish. You can always add more unit conversion factors later through the Admin->Add->Crop->Unit To Crop tab in FARMDATA.
• Click "Submit All Data to Database" to save your unit conversions and go on, or "Skip" to discard them and go on to the next step.

7. Adding Cover Crops

If you wish to use FARMDATA to track cover crop seeding and incorporation, enter your cover crops here. The configuration procedure provides a list of suggested cover crops, along with seeding rates for both broadcast and drill seeding (derived from "Managing Cover Crops Profitably – 3rd Edition" produced by USDA - SARE, 2007) . As before, you can edit these values, delete any cover crops that you don't use, and add any additional cover crops. Click "Submit All Data to Database" to save your cover crops and go on, or "Skip" to discard them and go on to the next step.

8. Adding Tillage Implements

If you are using FARMDATA for cover crops as in the previous step, or if you wish to keep track of tillage data, add your tillage implements here. The configuration procedure provides a list of suggested implements, along with whether the implement can be used for incorporation (of cover crops and compost). As before, you can edit these values, delete any implements that you don't own, and add any additional implements. Click "Submit All Data to Database" to save your implements and go on, or "Skip" to discard them and go on to the next step.

9. Adding Spray Materials

If you wish to use FARMDATA to track spraying of insect and weed control agents (backpack and/or tractor spraying), add your spray materials here. The configuration procedure provides a list of suggested spray materials, along with spraying rates for both tractor and backpack spraying, restricted entry intervals and protective equipment. As before, you can edit these values, delete any materials that you don't use, and add any additional materials. You can also add more materials in the future through the Admin->Add->Soil->Spray Material tab. Click "Submit All Data to Database" to save your materials and go on, or "Skip" to discard them and go on to the next step.

10. Final Configuration

• The first section of this page allows you to configure which FARMDATA modules you wish to use. By default, all modules are selected. Uncheck any modules that you don't wish to use.
• The second section of this page allows you to select whether you will seed and transplant by the bed foot or by the bed. If you always plant only one crop in each bed and can accept some imprecision in the number of bed feet planted to a crop, select "Bed". Otherwise, select "Bed Foot". To clarify, a bed is the planting space between two pathways. If you measured off 100 feet of length on one bed, this equals 100 bed feet. Planting data will be recorded in bed feet, and crop yield figures will be reported in units of crop harvested per bed foot.
• The third section of this page allows you to enter some basic information for emailing invoices. If you don't plan to use the invoicing features of FARMDATA, leave this section blank.
• Click "Submit" to complete configuration.

You can now begin normal usage of FARMDATA.

Important Note: As an administrator, you can access this final configuration page at any time by selecting Admin->Configuration->Configure within FARMDATA. In particular, it is fine to uncheck any modules that you don't plan to use immediately, and then select them later as you wish to add them.

Please report any issues with the setup procedure by creating a ticket here: https://sourceforge.net/p/farmdata/tickets/