Set up composite and zone soil sampling

Composite and zone sampling is available to selected accounts. If you don't see these features, contact your FarmQA representative.

Before anyone can create a composite or zone sampling task, an administrator sets up two things: the task types that carry the sampling type, and a marker type for collected sample locations to load into. Zone sampling also needs a management zone layer on every field you plan to sample.

The most important thing to know first: sampling type is set when you create a task type and can't be changed afterward. Your existing soil sampling task types are all grid and stay grid. You add new task types for composite and zone alongside them rather than converting what you have.

Action	Where	Who
Create a soil sampling task type	Web	Enterprise administrator, Agronomist
Create a marker type	Web	Enterprise administrator, Agronomist
Change organization sampling settings	Web	Enterprise administrator, Agronomist
Add a management zone layer to a field	Web	Enterprise administrator, Agronomist

For every role and what it can do, see Breakdown of user permissions.

Create the task types

A task type carries the sampling type, and every task created from that type inherits it. You need one task type per sampling type you intend to use.

Open Settings → Task types.
Select Add.
Enter a Name your team will recognize in the task list, such as Composite Sampling or Zone Sampling.
Set Task category to Soil sample.
Set Soil sample type to Composite or Zone. This field only appears once the task category is Soil sample.
Choose an Icon, and optionally add a Description and status colors.
Optionally add Instructions for whoever completes tasks of this type.
Select Save.

Repeat for the second sampling type. Most operations create both at the same time.

Both Task category and Soil sample type become read-only once the task type is saved. If you pick the wrong one, create a new task type — there's no way to change it in place.

What happens to your existing task types

Your current soil sampling task types keep working exactly as they do today. They're all grid, they stay grid, and open tasks created from them are unaffected.

Because sampling type can't be changed on a saved task type, there's no conversion step and nothing to migrate. The new task types sit alongside the old ones, and whoever creates a task chooses the sampling type by choosing the task type.

Set up a marker type for sample locations

Every collection location a technician records becomes a geo marker. FarmQA only offers marker types whose type is Soil sample location, and without one your team can't create a soil sampling task at all — FarmQA blocks task creation and tells you to set one up first.

Open Settings → Markers.
Select Add.
Enter a Name, such as Soil sample locations.
Set Marker type to Soil sample location.
Set Display setting. Growing season keeps each season's locations separate.
Use Select an icon for your marker to choose an icon.
Select Save.

Marker type and Display setting both lock when you save, the same way the task type fields do. Get them right the first time or create a new marker type.

Create just one soil sample location marker type unless you have a specific reason not to. With exactly one, FarmQA selects it automatically and the Marker types field doesn't even appear when someone creates a task. With more than one, whoever creates the task has to choose.

Expect one marker per collection location, not one per sample. A composite sample with forty new locations creates forty markers; locations that land on markers already on the field reuse them instead. New markers are named from the sample's reference number — the first takes the reference number on its own, and the rest get a counter appended, starting at (1).

Add management zone layers for zone sampling

A zone sampling task takes its zones from a management zone layer on the field, and carries the zone names across. A field with no management zone layer can't be used for a zone task.

Set your zone layers up before you plan a sampling run, and name the zones the way you want them to read on the sampling task and on the results — renaming them later doesn't reach back into tasks already created.

Whoever creates the task picks the layer inside the Define sampling locations window. No layer is preselected, even when the field has only one.

Related: Working with management zones

Check your organization sampling settings

Two settings under Settings → Organization → Sampling change how collection behaves. Both apply to grid, composite, and zone sampling.

The section only appears if you have the Soils permission, and both settings live on the root organization, so they apply across your whole org tree rather than per grower or farm.

Automatically advance sample barcode or ID — When on, FarmQA offers the next value in sequence as the default each time a technician scans or types one, keeping the prefix and digit padding of the last entry. On a zone task that means each zone is pre-filled with the next number in the run. Turn it off if your lab issues non-sequential barcodes.
Always use device location for soil samples — When on, a recorded sample uses the technician's actual GPS position rather than snapping to the nearest planned point or marker, and selecting points on the map is disabled entirely. Technicians record cores with the + control at wherever they're standing. Turn it on when you want the physical position captured exactly; leave it off if your crews work by walking to planned points and tapping them.

Connect a lab

Composite and zone tasks submit to labs the same way grid tasks do, and your existing setup carries over.

Automatic submission on task completion depends on the lab profile having it enabled, not on the sampling type.
Results come back matched by Sample ID, so your existing barcode-match import profiles work unchanged.

Setup checklist

Before your first composite or zone task:

Composite and zone sampling enabled for your account
A task type exists with the soil sample type Composite, Zone, or both
At least one marker type with the Soil sample location type exists
Every field you plan to sample by zone has a management zone layer
The two organization sampling settings match how your crews work
Your lab and import profile are set up

Frequently asked questions

Q: Can I change one of my existing soil sampling task types to composite or zone? A: No. Soil sample type is fixed when the task type is saved. Create a new task type instead — your existing ones keep working as grid.

Q: FarmQA won't let me create a soil sampling task. Why? A: The most likely cause is that your account has no marker type with the Soil sample location type. Collected locations have nowhere to go, so FarmQA blocks task creation and tells you to set one up. Create one and try again.

Q: My technician selects a sample point in the field and nothing happens. Why? A: Check whether Always use device location for soil samples is on. With that setting on, selecting points on the map is disabled by design — technicians record cores with the + control at their current location instead. Selecting a point that's already been sampled still works, so they can correct its sample id.

Q: Do I need a separate marker type for composite and zone samples? A: No. One soil sample location marker type covers all three sampling types, and having only one keeps the Marker types field off the task creation form entirely.

Q: Why does one composite sample create so many markers? A: A marker records a physical collection location, and a composite sample has many. The sample itself is still one record with one Sample ID and one lab result.