precision-sustainable-ag/dst-econ

Review: 07/18/2023

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boscosylvester-john commented

CC DST review 7-18-23.docx

ABOUT Landing Page

  • “Begin by inputting ALL of the required information into the Field & Farm module and then proceed to each of the following input modules (each of the input modules are buttons with white lettering).” Recommend:
  1. Deleting “following” from above.
  2. Deleting the list of modules that follow this sentence.
  • “Click on a green question mark (?) for additional information on the input fields.” Recommend replacing “a green question mark (?)” with the actual icon used in the DST.
  • When I clicked on “visit https://precisionsustainableag.org/.” it loaded on top of the DST. I suggest it loading in a separate tab.

Home page

  • Has a “unused CSS” button just above the PSA logo. It doesn’t seem to do anything. Hide?
  • After using the DST for a while, I noticed a “unneeded CSS” button. What does this do? Hide?
  • Airtables button (one of yellow lettered tabs) has code behind it. Make sure this one is hid on the non-development site.

Termination tab

  • When “herbicide” is used, Product cost default would be colored green, indicating a default that should be evaluated and changed if desired.
  • When “roller” termination is chosen, the options for rollers are not in order (8 ft is at the end rather than before the 15 ft option). Can they be reordered? The order in Airtables is correct.
  • When “roller with follow-up herbicide” is chosen it allows the user to enter roller information but not herbicide information. Add herbicide information to his option. Note: when I chose to text the page by clicking on the “test roller with follow-up herbicide” button at the bottom right, it does bring up the herbicide option.
  • When “Roller” is chosen as the termination method and user choses “no” to “would you do this…?” $21 pops into the Summary table as an expense (note: this is the default chemical cost). This needs to be corrected. If I chose tillage, it reports the cost of the tillage plus the $21 rather than just the tillage cost.
  • When "How will this herbicide application be done ?" = Hire Custom Operator, a dropdown with default value should appear. It does not.

Tillage tab

  • The logic on this tab is backward. I have created a table below that illustrates WHAT IS happening (current result) and WHAT SHOULD happen (Proper result). For purposes of illustration, I assume custom operator expense of $18 but any implement selection gives the same problem with just different dollar amounts.
<style> </style>
Question Situation 1 Situation 2 Situation 3
Typically no-till? No No No
Conduct fall tillage? yes yes yes
How tillage done? Any selection Any selection Any selection
Planning to forego fall tillage? Neither N or Y (before either is selected) No Yes
Current result      
Tillage cost reductions… $0 $0 $18
Tillage cost increases… $0 $0 $0
Net Impact $18 $18 $0
Summary table $18 in cost $18 in cost No tillage row seen
Proper result      
Tillage cost reductions… $0 $0 $18 (red or with – sign)
Tillage cost increases… $0 $0 $0
Net Impact $0 $0 $18 (red or with – sign)
Summary table No tillage row seen No tillage row seen $18 in benefits for tillage
Explanation of why this change is important. When the farmer normally conducts fall tillage and foregoes it because of cover crops, the farmer has a positive financial benefit from planting cover crops. If he normally conducts fall tillage and continues to do fall tillage (forego = no), there is not difference and the summary should not show any change due to tillage.

Fertility tab

  • Fertilizer value is filled with a default. I suggest coloring those boxes green like other default boxes.
  • An observation: the three bottom rows of the tillage tab (cost reductions, costs increases and net impact) are yellow. The three bottom rows of the fertility tab (value of fertilizer, cost of fertilizer, net fertility) correspond the rows on the tillage tab. I suggest coloring them yellow to be consistent.

Herbicide tab

  • When “do you plan on adding…” = yes,
  1. the Product Cost box appears with $21.11 entered. Please color this green to indicate that it is a default value that can be changed.
  2. “What method will be used…” dropdown contains “I will not reduce my post emergence spray applications.” This should read “No additional application activity.”
  3. When "what method will be used for the additional post...?" = Hire Custom Operator, a dropdown with default value should appear. It does not.
  • When “Do you plan on reducing…” = yes, use the same format and logic as in the “Do you plan on adding….” section.
  1. The Product row appears with a simple text entry box
  2. Next row is “Product cost.” This row should have no default value populating it.
  3. Change “How would you have conducted the post emerge application?” to “What post emerge application activity is eliminated?” The dropdown list should be “No reduced application activity,” and the next three already in the drop-down list starting with “hire custom operator.”
  4. Make sure that any savings is added to the Benefits of the Summary table.

Additional Considerations tab

  • “If you rent this field and the landowner contribute to costs associated with planting…” needs an “s” after “contribute.”

Summary tab

  • Change “cash crop” to “Cash crop following cover crop.”
  • We might need to discuss what is currently on this page. It appears that the table is being replaced with text but it is not yet done. Is that the case? Or will there be both text and table on this tab?

Revenue Impact tab

  1. This looks like it is in development. I like how the Decreased cost and Increased Cost totals can be expanded. I look forward to the Decreased Revenue and Increased Revenue and Net Revenue additions to this table.

Overall thoughts that can be incorporated as seen fit.

  • When a user chooses “how will [activity] be done?” the “what power will be used?” needs to be limited to appropriate power sources. I suggest putting in a “screen” column in Airtables (like is on CostDefaults tab to designate planting custom rate options.
  • The instructions, in some ways, seem overly polite when they say “please consider” or “please select.” I usually like politeness but am wondering if this is the correct place for it.
  • I suggest a single sentence or paragraph at the top of each page. More detailed info which is currently above the input area would be move to below the input area. For example, all the text on Planting Decisions tab could be moved to below the table. Above the table would be “Answer the questions below to describe how you plant your cover crops.”
  • Each tab starts with something like “In order to accurately evaluate the economic impact of implementing cover crops into your rotation, we only want to consider management decisions directly associated with the use of cover crops.” I wonder if putting that on the Home page would be sufficient. Draw their attention to it at the very beginning and reduce the text on subsequent pages.
  • Question: the Equipment tables have blue check boxes that users can check or uncheck. Should they be green to match other places on the pages that can be changed?
  • On the Planting Tab, some will incorporate seeding with fertilizer application and therefore not have any additional planting activity expense. We can add an option in the dropdown list that says "Incorporate planting with fertilizing. No CC planting cost." or we can add a green question mark sign that opens to read "If you are planting cover crop seed while conducting a field activity normally conducted (e.g. broadcasting fertilizer), enter $0 in the Estimated Cost box."