Researchers often struggle to organize data from field experiments in a way that ensures the work is fully documented and can readily be re-analyzed or used with models or other tools. The Florida Crop BMP Template is a simple spreadsheet-based tool for organizing data in a consistent fashion. Structured using categories similar to DSSAT’s file-X, file-A, file-T, weather and soil files, the template should prove easy to understand and use in the DSSAT community.
Developed through collaboration among researchers at the University of Florida and staff at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), this template is focused on data related to best management practices (BMPs) in Florida. Four videos have just been released providing an overview of the template and demonstrating how to work with the template using R scripts. The Introduction video is an excellent way to get a quick overview (11 minutes long).
The web site provides links to the BMP Template and the ICASA Data Dictionary. We welcome further inquiries about the BMP Template, including how to adapt the general approach to other research efforts.
