Crop planning is an essential part of farming. A crop plan will provide you with a roadmap on what, when and how much you will be planting for the next season. It will also provide you with a detailed list of activities to grow an exceptional crop. Details such as inputs, spray applications, irrigations, and field tasks. A good crop plan will help you maximize your yields, minimize growing costs, and will allow you to effectively plan your resources.
While for some crops the crop planning may not be practical, for others, such as vegetable or permanent crops it is critical. For example, many vegetable growers will have a buyer well before the crop is planted. Therefore, the crop plan is extremely critical, so farmers know when each field activity needs to be performed so the harvested crop can be delivered on time.
Steps to create a Crop Plan
- The first step is to decide what crops and varieties you want to grow. A lot of it will be based on climate, soil type, and market demand in your area. Once you have decided on your crops, you need to determine how much of each crop you want to grow. This will depend on factors such as your available land, labor, and equipment.
- The next step is to create a planting schedule. This involves deciding when you want to plant each crop and when you expect to harvest it. You should consider factors such as your climate, soil type, and the length of your growing season. You should also consider the time it takes for each crop to mature and the time it takes for you to prepare the soil and plant the seeds.
- Once you have created your planting schedule, you need to create a budget for your crop plan. This involves estimating the costs of seeds, fertilizer, labor, equipment, and other expenses associated with growing the crop. You should also consider the potential revenue from selling your crops when making this budget.
- Finally, you need to monitor your crop plan throughout the growing season. This involves keeping track of how your crops are growing and adjusting as needed. For example, if you notice that one crop is not growing as well as expected, you may need to adjust your fertilizer or irrigation schedule.
Crop Plans in AgNote
Recently we added a dedicated crop plan functionality inside AgNote. There you can quickly:
- Create a crop plan. You can copy an existing or auto loaded if you have crop history.
- Easily assign crop plans to one or many plantings.
- Easy to monitor planned activities
Here is a short video demonstration of crop planning in AgNote
You can easily try AgNote’s crop planning for yourself. Just register for a free seven-day trial and take AgNote for a test-spin.
