Variable Rate Prescriptions and Management Zones

Step 1 in the process of using agCommander's VR system is to create one or more Management Zone layers for a field. 
That can be done by either manually drawing the zones or by importing them. 
If you have subscribed to use our EarthDaily Agro integration, it has a very good Management Zone creation tool and the Management Zone layers that it creates can be saved for use in agCommander's VR system. 

When you want to create or save a layer as a Management Zone layer, you simply tick the box shown below and choose the relevant field. 
PLEASE NOTE: the program won't allow you to create a Management Zone layer unless you are adding it under a Farm Layer Group ( as opposed to a custom Layer Group that you may have added).
The Field pick list will be filtered to only include the fields for Layer Group's farm. 

For example, you could draw polygons like these below over a field and set that as a Management Zone layer.  

Choosing the relevant field for your Management Zone layer will tell agCommander to add the "Variable Rate Maps" node to your Season Field tree in the the Season Field view in the cropping module. That node will appear like shown below every season from when you first create one or more Management Zone layers for a field. 

 

 

When you click on that "Variable Rate Maps" node you will see a listing of VR projects for that field for that season. To add a VR project, click on the Add button and this form will appear. 
You first choose a Management Zone layer, give the VR project a description then choose the product type and the product to use for the first "Bin". You can have up to 4 different products (Fertilisers, Chemicals, Seed) in the one VR project. 
Assign the rate to each polygon colour as shown below.  
 

If for some reason your polygons are not colour filled, you will see an option to assign colours to polygons. The process is to first choose a colour, then click in each polygon to assign that colour to those polygons.
There is also a button "Reset Polygon Colours" on the "Bin 1" tab that enables you to set new colours to each polygon, should you need to apply colours to polygons differently.  

Once you have set up the rates for the first "Bin 1" repeat the process for any extra products. Simply click on the "Add.." label to open up the tab for "Bin 2" 

When done, click Save and you will return to the main screen where your new VR project will be shown.

 

Your VR projects can be exported as SHP files for uploading to your tractor console.