Your questions, our answers
FAQ
Here you can find a collection of the most frequently asked questions about the Micro-Farm Planner.
General
No, the software can be used without installation with an internet browser on all devices. Just log in on our homepage under “LOGIN”. The Micro-Farm Planner is a web-based Software-as-a-Service offering that we host on secure servers at Biohost and Webgo in Germany.
For the smartphone version, there is an option to perform an installation to be able to launch the app from the home screen. See the manual under 7) Micro-Farm Planner smartphone app.
The software runs in the browser, which means that you only need an internet connection for your computer. We recommend using one of the common browsers, such as Firefox or Chrome. In addition to the so-called desktop version, we also offer a mobile app that you can use on the road and in the field. The desktop version is used for planning and for complex visualizations. Therefore, it is optimal to have a resolution of at least 1200 px in width.
No, after the trial period you can decide yourself whether you want to book the program for a fee. All data entered during the trial period can still be used after booking.
Updates are included in the monthly price and are performed automatically, so the program is always at the cutting edge of technology. There is no maintenance contract with additional costs. We inform about innovations in the newsletter after each update.
With the Wizard (click on the magic wand icon next to the year switcher) you will learn the basic Micro-Farm Planner functions in a short time. You can also find the current Micro-Farm Planner manual under “Information” – click on the “i” (to the left of the logout button).
Need more help? Sign up for a personal consultation (click on “i”/Personal Consultation).
For a new registration click on “14 days free trial” on our homepage. Click on “New registration” in the LOGIN screen and enter all required login data. Confirm your registration by clicking on the link “Go to login” in the invitation mail sent to your specified mail address.
Log in to the program: Enter your login data (email address and password) on our homepage under LOGIN to access your repository (user environment).
For successful troubleshooting after a software update, it helps to delete the browser data (only cache data, cookies do not have to be deleted). This is often the reason for display errors or mixed display of old and new data.
This guide will help you:
Create new users under Settings/Employees by clicking on “+ create”. Enter the name, if necessary the role* and a valid email address of the person to be invited and click on “Send invitation” (letter symbol).
This will send an automatic invitation mail. The invited person has to accept the invitation (click on “Go to login” in the mail). This activates the new access.
The access data are stored in the invitation, if the invited person does not have access to the Micro-Farm Planner yet. In case of an already existing registration the existing access data are valid.
*The module “Roles and Rights” is available for bookings starting at 35€. Without the module, all users* have administrator rights and the option “Select role” is not available.
Only one user environment should be created for each company. However, to use the user environment of a partner company, you can be invited by that company. In this way, consultants can also gain access to the program of their client companies (see Invite co-workers/consultant).
If you have activated access to multiple accounts, a selection of your user environments will be displayed in the login window after you have entered your access data.
Click on LOGIN on the home page. At the bottom of the login window, click on the “Forgot password” option. This will send you a new invitation email to the email address used during registration.
If the mail is not in your spam folder: Click on LOGIN on the homepage. At the bottom of the login window click on the option “Resend activation link”. A new invitation mail will be sent to you.
Since the application is stored in the browser for offline use, it is possible that parts of the previous version are still loaded after a version update.
Solution: close all Micro-Farm Planner windows or tabs and then clear the browser cache.
Do you run an online store and want to record the movements of your goods automatically? No problem! The vegetable cultivation planner offers corresponding APIs to query stock levels or to record deliveries and goods receipts. In addition, you can connect your scales to the Micro-Farm Planner. This makes harvest recording very easy. If you want to have a look at the whole range of APIs, you can find the technical description here [https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/20071484/UyrDEFwR#intro].
Crops and varieties
To make it easier for you to enter new crop master data, there are predefined crop data sets (templates) that you can import under “Crops”, “Fields” or in the “Crop calendar” as follows:
Click
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- in “Crops” on “+Create sets”
.
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- in “Fields” on “Add sets” top left then in the sidebar on “Create sets” top right.
- in “Cultivation calendar” on “+” top left
.
To use a template crop, then select a crop for Market Garden (0.75 m bed system, smaller Plant Spacing) or Field Vegetable Production (1.8 m bed widths, Plant Spacing for machine planting) from the drop-down menu in one of the template sections.
Now adjust the master data in the crop window if necessary and click on “Next”. This creates the crop in your master data (under Planning/Crops).
To create sets of the crop directly, click on “Create sets” in the lower right corner of the set creation window after adjusting the data. If not, click “cancel”.
Tip: If you want to create sets of this crop next time, select the crop in the dropdown menu in the upper section “Custom crops”. This will take you directly to the sentence creation window and you will not create it a second time in the master data.
Each crop has individually entered cop timings, which are used as a basis for sentence planning. In the created crop, you can create varieties and assign specific cop timings to them (Varieties tab, “Variety-specific cop timings” box). In the record creation window, you can then apply the deviating culture duration by selecting your variety.
All cop timings can be adjusted during set planning for all sets to be planned and subsequently on the planned set.
In the Crop List, there is a green trash can icon for deletion only at each crop entry if no sets are planned in any crop year.
Planned sets in the Crop Calendar are based on the crop’s master data. Therefore, all sets for the crop must be deleted first. After that, the trash can icon will reappear on the crop.
For each crop, create templates for the task types that will occur for that crop in your operation. The templates will then be used to automatically create all tasks in the task calendar each time the crop is scheduled.
You can do this in the details of a created crop in the tab “Task templates”: Click “Plus” (top left) select a template from the list or click “create new task template”. Select a date for the task that is suitable for your growing system. Plan the task based on the start or end date for nursery, planting, harvest or end of crop.
To create a template for a regularly repeating task, check the “Series template” box. Then enter the repetition period and the end for the appointment.
A check mark at “is proposed value”, adds the current template as a proposal to the selection list. If you create the next crop templates, you can thus take over self-created templates with the set values for other crops.
Tips: Task template fertilization: If the task template is named “Fertilization”, additional input fields appear for the name and application rate of the fertilizer.
Depending on the selected Cultivation type, “Sowing” or “Nursery” and “Planting” are automatically created as default tasks with each set. These cannot be edited/deleted. These dates change automatically when the crop dates are adjusted on the set.
The (harvest) week has 7 days. Therefore, only on a Monday is the planning in a week (Monday to Sunday). If planning starts on all other days, the planned harvest period starts in week 1 and extends to the next week. Two weeks are visualized, even if the period is only one week = 7 days.
The program calculates the area and from it the seed requirement (grain requirement) of each set based on the Plant Spacing specified on the crop. Thousand grain weight or seed mass per area can be specified on a crop variety. If the variety is selected on the planned set, this information is used to calculate the seed requirement (for requirement weight). Hence the note in the seed calculation, at sets without variety: “No calculation possible, please enter variety at the set.”
The crop master data are used when creating sets of the crop. They do not apply to sets already created in the growing calendar. Here, changes must be made directly in the record data.
No, only one variety can be set per set. To specify different varieties in the planning of several sets of a crop, create the sets and then set the varieties at each set in the growing calendar.
Fields and beds
Click on “Plus” (top left) in the stroke overview. A “new” field is created and the field detail view opens. Change the name, enter the path width if necessary and select the type.
Tip: To sort the fields, number them with 001, 002 etc. in front of the name!
Open the field detail view by clicking on the field. In the “Create beds” section of the sidebar, enter the number and dimensions of the beds and click “+ Create beds”.
Open the beat overview. Click on “Add sets” (top left). All sets created in the cultivation calendar that are not yet planned on beds appear. Select the field, starting bed number and position at the top. If necessary, use the filter to display only the sets required for the current planning in the set list. Click on the respective set or use drag n drop to place the set at the specified position on the selected bed.
See under “Crops and Varieties” for “How do I import crop templates, create crops and sets?”
In order to be able to map mixed crops, undersowing and interplanting, bed areas are not blocked for other sets by planning a set.
When using the function, the selected bed will be moved with all planned sets. If you want to move only one of several sets of a bed, use “Remove set from bed” and then reschedule it to the correct bed.
Click on the set bar of the set planned on the bed. Select “Remove from set” to delete the set from the current set only or “Remove set from all sets” to remove it from all sets assigned to it. The removed sets can now be reassigned to new beds in the “Add sets” sidebar (see “How do I schedule sets to beds”).
Attention! The option “Delete set completely”, which is also displayed in the menu at the set on the bed, deletes the set from the cultivation planning!
Fields can be deleted by clicking on the green trash can icon in the fields overview. If sets are planned for the field, an error message appears. To delete the field anyway, first remove all planned sets from the fields of the field.
(see under Deleting sets from one or more beds).
The KWs are actually displayed even when the “Add sets” sidebar is open. It may be that the fields become so small that the numbers can no longer be displayed if you work with a small screen (e.g. on a laptop) or use a small screen resolution. To make the KWs always visible you can reduce the browser zoom a bit (to 80 or 75%) or increase the resolution (or use a bigger screen).
