How do I activate water services?

Activate services - Adding data to the water protection module

Or alternatively, read below for a step by step guide.

Activating services

Sandy requires you to add additional data depending on the service you would like to

activate. Many of these services are interlinked, so where the same information is required in more than one place, your data will cross populate across multiple services.

To access this section, click on Activate Services, in the menu to the left of the screen. This section is divided into the following services:

• Carbon - Calculate your carbon footprint, benchmark the carbon performance of each enterprise, reduce your livestock feed emissions.

• Biodiversity - Understand and score the biodiversity of each field based on land uses and management practices.

• Water protection - Check that you are compliant with nitrogen uptake and nitrate leaching rules and develop a water protection improvement plan.

To activate each service and start adding your data, click Manage data.

You will then need to work through each section in turn, within the service you want to

activate. You are provided with a list of the data items required for each section.

Chronologically, click Manage data on section to start entering your data. As with other sections, for each section in Activate Services, data items are divided in to categories:

1. REQUIRED

2. ENCOURAGED

3. OPTIONAL

Only REQUIRED is mandatory to be filled in.

Water - Cropping data

Within the Activate services - Water protection module, this section requires the following information:

• Crop type, name, variety, yield

• Cover crops and yield

• Tillage type

Please provide this information for three harvest years.

Ensure you have selected the correct farm. Click Manage data to start entering your data.

Within this section, if you have connected your Farm Management Software, certain items

will already be populated. To view this data, click on Manage data.

These farm management softwares will populate the following data points:

• Gatekeeper - crop type, name and variety, yield

• Muddy Boots - crop type, name and variety, planting and harvest dates

You can either enter your cropping data manually into Sandy or you can use the Excel

sheet. Detailed guidance on this can be found in a separate help document.

To add cropping data into Sandy manually, ensure the correct farm, field, and harvest year are selected, then click + Add crop. To delete or edit existing records, click the bin icon or pencil icon, respectively.

By clicking the pencil icon, you can enter the cropping information for the selected field and year, using the drop down menus. If your crop is a cover crop, please select Cover crop from the Crop Type List. When you are finished, click Save.

Within this section you can also existing data entries across multiple fields in one go, using the Edit multiple function. To create new cropping records across multiple fields, you can use the Replicate records function. Detailed guidance on both of these is available in a separate help document.

Water - Operational data

This section require seeding and fertiliser application records (including organic fertilisers).

Please provide this data for three harvest years.

Make sure you have selected the correct farm. Click Manage data to start entering your data.

Within this section, if you have connected your Farm Management Software, certain items

will already be populated. To view this data, click on Manage data.

You can either enter your cropping data manually into Sandy, or you can use the Excel

sheet. Detailed guidance on this can be found in a separate help document.

To enter your operational data manually into Sandy, make sure the farm, field, and harvest year are selected, then click + Add operations. To delete or edit any entries, click on the delete or edit icons.

Enter the details of your field operations, using the drop drown menus and boxes. Name the product as it appears in your farm records. Make sure you enter the applied area, not the total field area.

Within this section you can also existing data entries across multiple fields in one go, using the Edit multiple function. To create new cropping records across multiple fields, you can use the Replicate records function. Detailed guidance on both of these is available in a

separate help document.

When you have entered the relevant data, click Save to confirm. When you have entered all the relevant operational data, click Confirmed to update the percentage completeness figures.

Input - Manufactured fertiliser

This section requires specific details of any manufactured fertilisers applied.

Ensure you have selected the correct farm, and click Setup to enter your data.

The names of your fertiliser products will appear as entered in the Operational data section. If any products are not appearing, please check they have been added and imported into the Operational data section.

To enter data, click on the edit icon.

Enter the required information using the drop down menus and boxes. The only required

nutrient percentage is nitrogen, but to get a more accurate result, click on the arrow to open the optional data section. You can then enter the percentage composition of phosphates, potash and sulphates. When the relevant data in entered, click Save to confirm.

Input - Organic fertiliser

This section requires specific details of any organic fertilisers applied. Ensure you have selected the correct farm, click Setup, and enter your data.

The names of your fertiliser products will appear as entered into the Operational data section. If any products aren't appearing, double check that they have been added or imported into the Operational data section.

To enter data, click the edit (pencil) icon.

Enter the relevant data using the drop down menus and boxes. If you do not have these figures available, Sandy will default values based on the type of organic fertiliser. Figures for phosphate, potash, and sulphate are not required but can be entered as optional data. Click on the arrow to open this section, and enter your data in the same way as previous. When you have entered all your data, click Save to confirm.

Soil

This section requires details of your soil type and any soil test results you wish to provide. If you have completed the Set up a digital map of your farm section, then the soil type will be automatically populated with a default soil type based on the geographic location of your farm. You can choose to update this. Ensure you have selected the correct farm, and click Setup to enter your data.

Select the farm, field, and harvest year. Next click + Add soil data to add an entry. To delete or edit an entry, click the bin or pencil icons, respectively. You can also edit multiple existing entries, using the Edit multiple function. There are detailed instructions on this also in the help centre.

Soil type is the only required data category in this section, but additional encouraged data will help improve the accuracy of your results.

Enter the relevant data using the drop down menus and boxes. Click Save to confirm.