We are pleased to share with you our new tool for mapping sub-fields. This feature has been requested by many of our users and we are excited to be able to provide yet another solution to make your daily farming routines easier and more manageable.
What are sub-fields?
Sub-fields allow you to divide your fields up into smaller areas to record different crops, grazing blocks, and mark areas that are not in use.
Sub-fields don’t change your field boundary and apply for one year only. For each sub-field you can set usages, attach notes, photographs, field jobs and herds.
Here’s some ways sub-fields are useful:
- Recording and sharing accurate working area for each field
- Growing multiple crops in field during a season
- Organising rotational or mob grazing
- Keeping track of Environmental stewardship you have on your farm
We think it is a fantastic addition to fieldmargin for making record keeping easier and more accurate for ordering, reporting and audits. We are looking forward to hearing what you think!
How it works
Setting up sub-fields is web only. Once sub-fields have been drawn on web they will be show on the mobile map.
When you set-up sub-fields you have got 4 tools available: Slice, Cut out, Add margin and Merge
Once sub-fields have been drawn on web they will be show on the mobile map 📲 👇
The new sub-field tools let you divide a field that you have already mapped in fieldmargin. You can learn how to map out your farm here. If you are a UK user learn how you can upload fields from the RPA here.
Pricing
Sub-fields are available with Plus and above. You can upgrade to Plus here or start a 14-day free trial here.
The ’Slice’ tool allows you to divide a field into different sections
This means you can divide your fields into section, e.g. for multiple crops or grazing blocks. This is a feature that has been requested by our user a lot over the last year.
Now you can grow multiple crops in the same field during one growing season 🥕
This is a feature that has been requested by our user a lot over the last year and will be especially useful for vegetable and fruit farms that have lots of different types of plants together.
As well as dividing the areas so that the map is correct you will also be able to keep your input records separate for each sub-field and have input requirements calculated for the area of the sub-fields.
In some cases growing multiple cropping can reduce the risk of weed growth, pest and disease infestation reduces because of mutual relationship within the crop (source).
Map rotational or mob grazing to improve efficiency of grazing 🐏
By dividing your field/paddock into multiple smaller sections you can achieve better utilisation of available pasture by utilising high stocking densities that are moved frequently. Read more and how you can do this here.
Our new sub-field feature lets you easily divide big fields up into smaller areas and move herds around these areas. Historic details for reports on fieldmargin will be saved as part of the smaller sub-field history and the larger parent field history.
The ’Cut out’ tool allows you to remove areas from your field
This tool can be used to remove a non-farmed area from a field. The “Cut out” area will be subtracted from the field area for your calculations.
Use sub-fields to calculate an accurate a working area 🚜
On some fields there are areas that you do not grow crops on because they are unsuitable or you are part of agreements not to grow on them. Using sub-fields you can remove these areas and calculate an accurate working area of a field for your spray calculations rather than using a total field area.
This can helps ordering the correct amount of fertiliser and sprays for the year ahead and avoid over-application. Working with our users so far this has been able to save significant amounts of time and money.
Changing plans after crop failure ✂️
As a grower sometimes you will need to change your plan due to crop failure. For example a field that was originally planted with a crop can be flooded and it may die off in particular areas of the field.
You can use sub-fields to map the working area of the current crop so that you can accurately calculate the amount of treatment required for the rest of the season and eventual record the yield.
The ’Add margins’ tool allows you to instantly add a measured margin inside a field
This handy tool can be used to mark out a buffer area around a field. You can tailor it to your needs by choosing the width that you need for your field.
You can use this to keep accurate areas and records for farmed areas and environmental focus areas for schemes such as HLS, Countryside Stewardship or ELMS.
If for an agreement you have to grow a 6m wildflower strip you can use the margin feature to set this up in seconds.
On the side bar you will be able to see the total area of the margin. You can use this area data for ordering product using Field Jobs. For example you can work out how much seed you might need to purchase for the wild flower strip. This information will be all be saved ready for when you need it at inspection time or for reporting.
The ’Draw new’ tool allows you to draw an additional area to your field
Draw new allows you to draw a field boundary which is saved as a new sub-field. This tool has no restrictions and you can draw a boundary that can overlap many shapes.
This tool can be used if you want to have two sub-fields that overlap during different times in the same season. It is also useful if you extend the area of your field for a temporary seasonal sub-field.
Ready to set up sub-fields on your farm? It’s quick and easy to get started.
Subfields is a PLUS feature. You can upgrade to Plus here or start a 14-day free trial here.
Setting up sub-fields is web only 🖥. Once sub-fields have been drawn on web they will show on mobile 📲
You can find our complete step-by-step guide to sub-fields here. If you would like an online demo you can book a session for your farm here.
Learn more about fieldmargin and our other mapping and record-keeping features on our website https://fieldmargin.com/