Use your compaction data to create variable rate compaction prescriptions

FarmQA's integration with Amity Technology's CTS-1000 compaction unit allows for the swift and efficient collection of soil compaction data within agricultural fields. After the compaction data has been collected, FarmQA's toolset can be used to convert that data into an actionable plan to manage compaction in your fields. Check out the article below to learn how to use the compaction data you collected with your CTS-1000 unit to create a variable rate compaction map for your fields. We'll also cover how to export this data as an actionable prescription shapefile. 

Create a variable rate compaction map

Download a variable rate compaction map to a shapefile

Create a variable rate compaction map

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app.
• In the Map tab, click on your desired field.
• In the slide-out map pane, click on the More button, then click on Management zones button (pictured below).

• Click the Create compaction zone button at the bottom of the Management zones pane.
• Input the following information in the next Create compaction zone page (pictured below): 
  1. Set the minimum depth 
  2. Set the maximum depth
  3. Input the Depth offset in inches. 
  4. Set your threshold pressure for wanting to apply tillage. The default of 300 PSI is recommended. 
• When you've input these settings, click the Continue button. 

• In the final Create compaction zone page, input the following information to complete your variable rate tillage map (pictured below):
  1. Give your variable rate tillage map a Name.
  2. Toggle on the Show labels switch to see what depth you'll need to till to.
  3. Set a Minimum polygon size for your individual management zones.
  4. Use the Zone step size textbox to set the number of inches that each zone depth increment will be. 
  5. Set the Colors to Manual.

• Click the Preview button at the bottom of the screen to see how your variable rate tillage map will look. 
• You'll now need to start editing your compaction zones to fine tune your prescription. To do this, you'll want to focus on the cluster groups in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. The left column is the name of the zone and the right column is the depth to which tillage needs to be applied (pictured below). 

• The first group with the 0 on the right is the no-action zone, so we recommend changing the name to No-till.
• For your other zones, we recommend changing the name of each group to match the maximum depth of tillage in each zone. In the example below, the second zone would be named 3", the third zone would be named 6", and so forth. 
• The colors of each zone should be edited to reflect the severity of compaction in the field. The No-till zone should be green, the most shallow tillage zone should be red, the next most shallow tillage zone should be yellow, and so forth. 
• We recommend that your final zone setup should look something like the one displayed below:

• The variable rate compaction map that corresponds with the above zone setup is shown below. Click the Create button to save your variable rate compaction map. 

Download a variable rate compaction map to a shapefile

• Log in to your FarmQA account if you haven't already.
• In the Map tab, click on the field you want to download a variable rate compaction map from. 
• Click on the More button, then click on Management zones button (pictured below).

• In the Management zones slide-out pane, hover your cursor over the compaction zone you want to download and click on the Create prescription icon (pictured below).

• Click the Next button in the Create prescription window.
• Review the setup of your variable rate tillage zones in the next Create prescription window. 
• Click the Download button to download your variable rate tillage prescription (pictured below). 

Please contact FarmQA Support with any further questions