FAQ

Fieldprint Platform Version 5 represents a significant upgrade from Version 4, with the revision of three indicators at its center: Energy Use, GHG Emissions, and Soil Carbon. 

The following methodologies were revised in Version 5:

• Irrigation operations
• Field operations
• Manure transportation
• Crop transportation
• Crop drying
• CH4 emissions from flooded rice cultivation
• Non-CO2 emissions from biomass burning
• Soil N2O

The following methodologies were added in Version 5: 

• CH4 flux from non-flooded soils
• CO2 from carbonate lime applications to soils
• CO2 from urea fertilizer applications
• Direct land use change
• Soil carbon stock changes

Any of the above revisions or additions could have impacted your indicator scores. From our internal preliminary analyses, the methodologies with the highest potential to impact your results include:

• Irrigation operations: Irrigation pumps powered by diesel can expect a doubling or tripling of GHG emissions associated with water pumping.
• Soil N2O: The latest method from USDA estimates higher soil N2O emissions compared to the method from Version 4.
• Soil organic carbon fluxes: This method is an addition and may result in GHG emissions or sequestrations.
• Direct land use change: If a given field experienced land use change (e.g., pine forest to row crops), a significant amount of GHG emissions are added for the next 20 years.

A non-cropland field boundary error occurs when the Fieldprint Platform detects previous land use not classified as cropland by the USDA Cropland Data Layer, which makes soil carbon modeling challenging. Non-cropland uses include the following:

• Almonds
• Apples
• Apricots
• Aquaculture
• Avocados
• Background
• Barren
• Barren
• Blueberries
• Caneberries
• Cherries
• Christmas Trees
• Citrus
• Clouds/No Data
• Developed
• Developed/High Intensity
• Developed/Low Intensity
• Developed/Med Intensity
• Developed/Open Space
• Grapes
• Herbaceous Wetlands
• Hops
• Nectarines
• Nonag/Undefined
• Olives
• Open Water
• Oranges
• Other Tree Crops
• Peaches
• Pears
• Pecans
• Perennial Ice/Snow
• Pistachios
• Plums
• Pomegranates
• Prunes
• Walnuts
• Water
• Wetlands
• Woody Wetlands

Please contact Field to Market staff to discuss alternatives.

The platform is set up to handle these activities. The relay or double crop should be assigned its own crop interval. The crop can be spring killed via a termination operation in the chisel/plow category (look for “vegetation is killed” description when you hover over a tillage option with the mouse pointer).

Cover crops that are harvested for grain/forage should be treated as cash crops in the Platform as there is an economic gain. They can follow the same data entry process as double crops.

Ideally, by interseeding before harvest (e.g. broadcasting cover crop seeds by flying over the crop), the cover crop establishes earlier and we expect more biomass over the growing season. Having earlier cover crop planting date would ideally increase carbon seq. and decrease soil erosion.

However, at this time the platform does not have the capability to do interseeding. The current solution for interseeding in the platform is to plant the cover crop the day after harvest. We hope to add in the ability for interseeding at a future date.

We recommend leaving the pre-fill value for seeding rates. For grain systems, the upstream impact of seeding rates is low. Impact factors for seeding inputs were estimated on a kg basis for energy use and emissions.

The soil phosphorus concentration measured in a soil test can be interpreted as a qualitative level (Low, Medium, High/ Optimum, Very High/Excessive, etc). The interpretation comes from a state’s nutrient management recommendations which are based on factors like region, crop, and soil type. The level is often included on soil test reports.

If you have more than one soil sample collected for your field, please use the dominant soil phosphorus test level for the field in the drop-down selection. For example, if a grower has 100 acres and 60 acres of the field tested low for phosphorus, please select low for the drop-down.

The section pictured below impacts the Water Quality Indicator. You can read more about the indicator on our Metrics Documentation Website.

As of now, the platform requires the user to enter two separate application trips for this process. We are looking into a way to indicate the activities were done in one trip. For now, we have established an alternative that does not significantly contribute to an increase in the energy use score.

Complete the fertilizer activity information needed. Add a spraying operation activity on the same date as the fertilizer application activity. Set the fuel usage for the spraying operation activity to 0.

This alternative can also be used if there is a planting pass with starter fertilizer, a tillage pass with a fertilizer application, or a cover crop planting with a fertilizer application. In these cases, the fertilizer application fuel amount would be set to 0.

The manure rate and content are highly important data points to collect. You can learn more about the manure inputs on this documentation webpage.

We recommend using the aerial application. The diesel usage should be updated to an equivalent value for electricity or fuel consumption of the drone. The energy use of the drone is not 0 but it’s likely much lower than the fuel consumption of an agricultural plane. For specific fuel use recommendations, please reach out via our support email.

This distinction refers to the height of the crop remaining in the field after harvest, not the type of equipment used. For example, some growers harvest close to the ground, leaving less than 10 inches of standing stalks (low-standing stubble). Others leave taller standing stalks — sometimes over 30 inches — to provide wind protection or temporary wildlife habitat during the off-season.