Soil Sampling in FarmQA

In this article, we'll outline the complete workflow for soil sampling in FarmQA. We'll start with setting up your account so you can color your fields based on whether they've been sampled or not. Once that's set up, we'll discuss the work flow you'll use while you're sampling the field, including navigating to the field, accessing and adding soil sample geomarkers, and changing your field from Not Sampled to Sampled. Finally, we'll walk you through how to upload your soil sample data when it's been sent back from the lab. 

If you're just collecting soil samples, start at the Navigate to a field section and read through       Change a field from Not Sampled to Sampled. If you're an Enterprise Administrator, or you're in charge of getting your FarmQA account setup for soil sampling, please read the final three sections discussing how to color your fields based on whether they've been sampled or not, creating a soil sample import profile, and importing soil data to FarmQA. 

Navigate to a field

Access existing soil sample geomarkers

Setting soil sample geomarkers

Collecting soil samples

Change a field from Not Sampled to Sampled

Coloring your fields based on whether they've been sampled or not

Setting up an integration with AgVise Laboratories

Creating a soil sample import profile

Import your soil data to FarmQA

Turn sample locations into Soil Geomarkers

Navigate to a field

For a detailed look at how to navigate to a field, check out this support article. Here's a brief overview:

• In the FarmQA mobile app, locate and click on the field you want to navigate to.
• Click the More actions button then click Route to  button.
• You'll be redirected to your desired mobile direction application.

Access existing soil sample geomarkers

For a detailed look at how to access existing soil sample geomarkers, check out this support article. Here's a brief overview:

• In the FarmQA mobile app, locate and click on the field you want to navigate to.
• Swipe up on the white rectangular bar at the bottom of the screen and click the button next to   Soil samples. 
• Your soil sample geomarkers should now be displayed within the field. 

Setting soil sample geomarkers

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the mobile app if you aren't already.
• Click on the field you're collecting soil samples for. 
• Click on the location you want to add your soil sample geomarker at, the click the Drop marker at location button. 
• Select Soil sample for the geomarker type, give the marker a name/ID, then click SAVE MARKER.
• Your soil sample geomarker will now appear in the field (pictured below). 

Collecting soil samples

• Log in to your FarmQA mobile app if you haven't already.
• Select the field you want to collect soil samples for. 
• After you've selected the field, click anywhere on the field then click the Collect soil samples button (pictured below).

• If you have any pre-existing soil sample geomarkers, you can turn them on by clicking on the   Layer button, then selecting the geomarker layer that contains your soil samples (pictured below). 

• While sampling, click on the location on the map you're collecting a sample at. The FarmQA mobile app will then automatically open our barcode scanner so you can scan in the barcode on your sample bag. When importing your soil test results, we'll use this barcode to associate your data with that location (pictured below). 
• Once your barcode has been scanned in, like tracking line to the nearest soil sample to you and the distance to it will be updated and displayed (pictured below). 

Change a field from Not Sampled to Sampled

NOTE: you can only complete these steps if you setup your growing season to have Sampled and Not Sampled crops

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the mobile app. 
• Click on the field you just collected soil samples for.
• Click the More options button, then click Change crop/variety.  
• Change the crop assignment for the field from Not Sampled to Sampled and then click the SET CROP/VARIETY button. Your crop assignment will then be updated, and your field's color will be updated accordingly. 

Coloring your fields based on whether they've been sampled or not

• Log in to your FarmQA account if you aren't already.
• Click on Settings , then go to the Growing seasons tab. 
• At the bottom of the screen, click the blue Add button, and select New growing season (pictured below). 

• Name the growing season Soil Sampling and set the state to Active. When you've done this, press the Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen (pictured below). 

• In the upper right-hand corner of the screen, use the growing season dropdown menu to set the growing season you're viewing to Soil Sampling. 
• Go to the Crops/varieties tab. If there are any crops currently in your Soil Sampling growing season, delete all of those. Once you've deleted all your crops, click the  Add New Crop button.
• Create two new crops: a Sampled crop and a Not Sampled crop. Both crops should be loaded with the following information (pictured below): 
  • Name: Sampled or Not Sampled. 
  • Mater crop: Other
  • Template: choose any template in your account, like the Agronomist Template. 
  • Map color: we recommend red for Not Sampled and green for Sampled. 

• After you've setup your crops, go to the Fields tab. 
• Use the Items per page dropdown at the bottom of the page to make sure that all of your fields are displayed (pictured below).

• Check the box at the upper left-hand corner of the screen to select all of your fields. Then click     Assign a crop and assign all of your fields to the Not Sampled crop (pictured below). 

• All of the fields in your FarmQA account are now assigned to the Not Sampled crop. In the       Map you can view this by setting the FIELD COLOR to Color by crop (pictured below). 

Setting up an integration with AgVise Laboratories

For a detailed look at how to access existing soil sample geomarkers, check out this support article. Here's a brief overview:

• Log in to your AgVise Laboratories account.
• Go to Settings > API Settings and copy your API Key.
• In your FarmQA account, go to Soil > Labs and copy your API key into the AGVISE API Key text box.

Creating a soil sample import profile

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app if you aren't already.
• Click on the Soil icon, then go to the Settings tab. 
• Click the Add button next to IMPORT PROFILE to create a new import profile (pictured below).

• In the Soil Import Profile window, either click inside the window or drag the .CSV file containing your soils data into the import window (pictured below). 

• Fill out the following information to start your Soil Import Profile setup (pictured below):
  1. The Name you want to give your import profile. 
  2. The columns containing the Grower, Field, and Sample ID information associated with your soil samples. If you have a Date column, you can set that up in your import profile as well. 
• When you're ready to move forward, click the Next button. 

• Check the boxes next to the columns that contain soils data you want to import. Click the Next button when you're ready to move on to the final step of setting up your soil import profile (pictured below).

• Fill out the following information to finish setting up your Soil Import Profile:
  1. Use the dropdown menu to pick from a preloaded list of Soil properties to assign to your samples. In the example below, N is set to Nitrogen (N) and OM is set to Organic Matter. 
  2. A Unit of measure will be automatically set depending on what soil property you set. If the incorrect unit of measure was used, use the dropdown to select the correct one. 
  3. Set the Depth interval for each sample. If you need to create a depth interval, click the Add soil depth button at the bottom left-hand corner of the window. 
  4. Assign Metrics to your values if you want to track them as metric data. If you haven't created metrics yet, click the Add soil metric button to create one. 
• Click the Save button to finish setting up your soil import profile (pictured below). 

Import your soil data to FarmQA

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app if you aren't already. 
• Click on the Soil icon.
• In the Samples tab, click the Import soil data icon. Use the menu that pops up to select the soil import profile you want to use for your data import (pictured below). 

• Fill out the following information in the Upload soil samples window (pictured below): 
  1. Use the Select the top enterprise to import into dropdown to choose the branch of your enterprise your soil samples are being imported into. 
  2. Select the Growing season to import your data into. 
  3. Pick the Geomarker type to set your sample locations to. In this case, it will be Soil sample.
  4. Use the calendar to pick the Date to set your sample import to. If you setup a date column in your import profile, the date you set in the Upload soil samples window will be overwritten.

• When you've finished entering the information above, a window will appear where you can upload your soil sample .CSV file. Either click within the window to browse your computer for the file or drag the file within the window to upload your soils data (pictured below). 

• Your soils data has now been uploaded and is viewable within your FarmQA account. 

Turn sample locations into Soil Geomarkers

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app if you aren't already.
• Click on the Soil icon, then click on the Samples tab.
• Click on the field you want to turn your sampling points into geomarks for, then click the Turn samples into permanent markers button (pictured below). 

Please contact FarmQA Support with any further questions