Pajaro Valley CropManage Workshop

Bringing CropManage to the Field

Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2017

8:00am – 12pm

Location: UC Cooperative Extension Auditorium

1430 Freedom Blvd. Watsonville, CA 95076

LUNCH PROVIDED

• Learn how to use CropManage to support irrigation and nutrient management decisions and record-keeping
• Learn about the new version of CropManage (3.0)

CropManage is a free online decision support tool for water and nutrient management of coastal crops. With an over-drafted groundwater basin, and water quality regulations that are closely linked to nutrient management, efficiently using water and nitrogen fertilizer is a high priority for Pajaro Valley growers. At this free workshop, we will provide hands-on training so you can learn how to navigate and use CropManage for assisting with water and nitrogen management decisions and record-keeping. We will also learn about major updates to CropManage, making it more compatible with in-field use by farm staff. Spanish interpretation will be available.

 Crops currently supported by CropManage include strawberry, head and romaine lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, spinach, baby lettuce, cilantro, and mizuna. It will soon include leaf lettuce and bell peppers.

 Who should participate: Vegetable and berry growers, ranch managers, other farm staff, and technical service providers are welcome. The workshop is for both new and current CropManage users. The new version of CropManage will be more useful to field staff.

What to bring: Bring a tablet (preferable) or laptop computer so that you can follow along. If you need to borrow a laptop, contact Erin McCarthy for assistance.

RSVP by Friday, March 24, 2017 to Erin McCarthy at 831 475-5159 or erin.agwater@gmail.com.

 AGENDA (subject to change)

8:00 – 8:30 Registration and Refreshments

8:30 – 10:15 Getting started and updates on CropManage 3.0

10:15 BREAK

10:30 – 11:15 Strategies for using CropManage for decision support and record-keeping

11:15- 11:45  Advanced features and interfacing sensors with CropManage

11:45-12:00 Discussion of new features or changes needed

CropManage 2.0 Workshop: Hands-on training

Monterey County Agricultural Center Conference Room

 1432 Abbott St, Salinas CA 93901

Thursday, March 31 2016

(8:30 am – 12 pm)

We will offer a hands-on training to learn in depth about the features of CropManage 2.0, a free online decision support tool for water and nutrient management of coastal crops.  CropManage was recently revised with a new user interface and additional capabilities, and now supports iceberg and romaine lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and strawberries.  

Considering that the drought may continue into a 5th year, and water quality regulations continue to be linked to nutrient management, efficiently using water and nitrogen fertilizer is a high priority for Central Coast growers. CropManage can be a useful tool for providing quick decision support on water and nutrient management on a field-by-field basis. This training will provide an opportunity to learn how to use CropManage for improving the efficiency of your farming operations or for adding value to your consulting services. 

 The workshop will take you step-by-step on how to navigate and use CropManage for assisting with fertilizer and water management decisions and record keeping. Wi-Fi internet access is available at our conference room so please bring a laptop or tablet computer so that you can follow along as we tour through the features of the software.   There should be sufficient time to answer questions as we cover the following topics: 

Agenda:

8:30 – 9:00      Registration and Refreshments

9:00 – 9:30      Introduction and update on CropManage 2.0

9:30-10:15      Getting started with CropManage

10:15  (Break)

10:30 – 11:15 Strategies for using CropManage for decision support and record keeping

11:15- 11:45  Advanced features and interfacing sensors with CropManage

11:45-12:00   Discussion of new features or changes needed

Certified Crop Adviser CEU hours (1 hr soil and water management, 1 hr nutrient management, 0.5 hrs professional development)

To keep the group size manageable so that we can provide individual help, we would like to limit the workshop to 30 participants.  If you have attended previous workshops and or feel proficient in using the on-line tool, then you are welcome to just attend the second half of the workshop (10:30-12 pm).  Whether or not you plan to attend the entire or part of the workshop, please RSVP in advance by sending an email to larriaga@ucanr.edu with the subject heading “CropManage workshop” and let us know the number of participants in your group.  Alternatively, you can contact our office at 831-759-7350.  We will email you a confirmation. Thank you, and I hope to see you soon.  

Michael Cahn 

Please feel free to contact us if you need special accommodations

Select a topic on using CropManage:

(Note that the links below are for the old CropManage)

Frequently asked questions

Determine an irrigation schedule

Entering a fertilizer application

Entering a soil sample

Exporting data

Add new plantings

Setting up a ranch

Privacy policy

Related topics on water and nutrient management

Estimating N contribution from water

Using the soil nitrate quick test

Dear CropManage users,

 After many months of development, CropManage is about to undergo major changes to improve the online irrigation and nutrient management decision support tool.   These updates should make CropManage easier to use, faster, and more flexible for customizing it for additional commodities.    CropManage will need to be offline for approximately 2 hours to migrate the existing database to the new version on October 29th between 8:30 and 10:30 am.    None of your data will be lost during this transition, and all of your existing records will be available in the new version.   Please use your existing login credentials to access the new version.      After the transition to the new CropManage, you will not have access to the old version.   Additionally, you will be automatically directed to a new web address (cropmanage.ucanr.edu) when accessing CropManage.

In the upcoming weeks, we will provide short articles in the CropManage blog to explain some of the new features of the updated decision support tool.   Although we have done our best to identify and correct errors in the new version, undoubtedly, more bugs will be identified after the transition.   We will do our best to correct all errors as soon as they are identified.  You can also alert us to any errors that you encounter by emailing me (mdcahn@ucanr.edu).   I also welcome you to suggest additional changes or improvements that are needed.    Even after the transition to the new version, the programming staff will continue working to improve the user experience and usefulness of CropManage.        

The Programming Staff at UCANR and myself are truly excited that we have an updated version of CropManage that should better support growers in making decisions on irrigation and fertilizer applications.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Sincerely,

Michael Cahn

Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor

UC Cooperative Extension, Monterey County