Importing application records from a file is available to selected accounts. If you don't see these features, contact your FarmQA representative.
If you already track applications in another system, you can bring them into FarmQA as a CSV file instead of entering each one by hand. FarmQA matches every row to a field, a growing season, and a product in your catalog, then writes the applications as application records.
A single application can cover several products. Rows that share an Application ReferenceId are treated as one application — a tank mix — and written as one record, with the products in the order the rows appear in the file.
The import is all or nothing. If any row in the file has a problem, nothing is imported — not even the rows that were fine. You fix the file and upload it again, and your account is left exactly as it was in the meantime.
The import runs as soon as the file finishes uploading, and there's no preview step, so check your file against Application record import file format before you upload it.
| Action | Where | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Import application records from a CSV file | Web | Enterprise administrator, Agronomist, Technician, Operator |
For every role and what it can do, see Breakdown of user permissions.
Before you start
The import matches your file against data that already exists in FarmQA. It never creates fields, products, or applicators for you, so get these in place first:
- Fields — every field you're importing to needs a reference identifier that matches the Field ReferenceId in your file, and it must be assigned to the growing season you're importing into.
- Products — every product needs to be in your product catalog, with a registration number, a name, or both that match your file. See Adding products to your account.
- Applicators — with compliance checking on, the applicator's name in the file must match an applicator set up in that field's organization or one above it, and the license must be filled in. See Adding and managing applicators.
- The file — column names and accepted values are listed in Application record import file format.
Set the growing season
The file doesn't carry a growing season. FarmQA imports into the season you have selected when you start the import, so set it before you open the import window.
- Set the growing season selector to the season these applications belong to. See Creating growing seasons and editing growing season states.
Records land in the wrong season if the selector is wrong, and the only way back is to delete them and import again.
Import the file
- Open Advice and select the Application records tab.
- Select Import at the top of the screen.
- In the Import application records window, select Select application records file (or drop here) and choose your CSV, or drag the file onto that area.
- Wait for the import to finish. Larger files take longer, and the window stays open while it runs.
Read the results
When the import finishes, the window tells you either that the records imported or that the file was rejected.
If the file imported, the records are already written — you don't confirm anything. Select OK to close the window.
If the file was rejected, nothing was written. Select View errors before you close the window; the rejected rows are only available from here.
Fix the file and import again
The Application import errors page lists the rows that caused the rejection, with a Failure reason on each one. Reasons and their fixes are listed in Application record import file format.
- Open your original CSV file.
- Correct every problem the errors page lists.
- Import your corrected original file.
The page shows three columns: the row number, the application reference identifier, and the failure reason. Selecting Excel downloads those three columns, which is useful for working through a long list, but it isn't your data — your original file is always the one you fix and upload again.
One bad row stops the whole file, so fix everything the errors page lists before you upload again rather than going a row at a time.
If your file is missing required columns, the import stops before reading any rows and the errors page shows a single entry against row 1 naming the columns that weren't found.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Do the rows of a multi-product application have to sit next to each other in the file? A: No. Rows are grouped by Application ReferenceId wherever they appear. Order still matters within a group — the product order in the file becomes the application order on the record.
Q: Which row does FarmQA read the application details from? A: The first row in each group. If two rows in the same application list different applicators or different completion times, only the first row's values are used.
Q: What happens to rows with a blank Application ReferenceId? A: They're skipped. They aren't imported and they aren't reported as failures.
Q: I left the weather columns blank. Is that a problem? A: No. When wind speed is blank, FarmQA fills it from the field's weather station, the same way it does for a record you create by hand.
Q: I left the applied area blank. What area gets recorded? A: The whole field.
Q: Two of my fields have the same reference identifier. Can I still import to them? A: Yes. Split fields often share a reference identifier. Add the Field name column and give the exact field name, and FarmQA uses it to tell them apart.
Q: One row failed with a field error, but I can see the field in FarmQA. A: Check that the field is assigned to the growing season you're importing into. A field that exists but isn't in that season won't match.
Q: Most of my file was fine. Can I import the good records now and sort the rest out later? A: Not in one file. Everything imports or nothing does. If you need the clean applications in right away, delete the problem rows into a second file, import the first, then fix and import the second.
Q: I imported the same file twice by mistake. What happens? A: Both imports write records — the import doesn't check whether an application is already there. Delete the duplicates from the Application records list.