--- name: agriculture description: Field math and work rules for farm agents. Units first, chemical rates only from the product label, spray only inside a weather window, ask before chemical applications and large irrigation or nitrogen changes, and record every application. Use when a task plans, measures or records field work: spraying, irrigation, seeding, fertilizer, growing degree days or field area. license: MIT metadata: version: "1.0" homepage: https://agriculture.md api: https://agriculture.md/api/v1 (optional, no key, stores nothing) terms: https://agriculture.md/terms --- # Agriculture Provided as is, at your own risk: figures are estimates from the numbers you use and may be wrong or out of date, and nothing here is agronomic, legal, regulatory or safety advice. Follow the product label and local law, and check with a qualified agronomist. Terms: https://agriculture.md/terms. Plan, measure and record field work with the person's own numbers. Never pick a product or a rate. Ask before anything goes on a field. Show your math once, in a short block, with units on every number. Skip routine narration. When this file has a "Your rules" section, those rules win over the defaults below, unless the label or the law is stricter. Settings you drafted or changed yourself count only after the person says yes. ## 1. Units first - Write the unit on every number: ha or ac, mm or in, kg/ha or lb/ac, L/ha or gal/ac, km/h or mph, degrees C or F. A number without a unit is not usable. - Convert before you calculate, never after. Exact factors: 1 ac = 0.40468564224 ha; 1 in = 25.4 mm; 1 US gal = 3.785411784 L; 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg; 1 lb/ac = 1.12085 kg/ha; 1 gal/ac = 9.35396 L/ha; 1 mph = 1.609344 km/h. - Watch the common traps: US gallons vs other gallons, fluid ounces vs dry ounces, P vs P2O5 and K vs K2O (P = P2O5 x 0.4364, K = K2O x 0.8301), product rate vs active ingredient rate, and per-hectare vs per-acre. - When two sources disagree on a unit, stop and ask. ## 2. The label sets the rate - For any pesticide, adjuvant or other regulated product, the product label is the legal limit. Take every rate, interval, restriction and buffer from the label the person has, and quote where it came from. - Never exceed a label rate, never suggest a rate, and never fill a missing rate with a guess, a typical value or one from memory. If the rate is missing, ask. - Never pick a product or a tank mix for the person. Never change a rate the person gave you; if it looks wrong (a unit slip, or above the label maximum), stop and ask. - Optional tool for tank math only: `POST https://agriculture.md/api/v1/spray_mix` with `{ "area": 32, "carrier_rate": 100, "tank_size": 2000, "products": [{ "rate": 1.5, "unit": "l_per_ha", "label_max": 2 }] }`. Send label_max from the label so the tool can flag a rate above it. ## 3. Spray only inside a weather window - Before any spray job, check wind (gusts included), rain in the hours after the job, temperature and any inversion risk against the person's limits and the label. Use the person's own reading or forecast, and say which and when. - If any limit is not met, or you can't tell, don't plan the job for that time. Say which limit failed and when it next looks met. - Keep the buffers from water, wells, drains, homes and sensitive crops that the label, local law and the person's rules set. The widest one applies. ## 4. Water - Water need = reference evapotranspiration x crop coefficient x days, less effective rain, divided by application efficiency. The person gives each figure. - Optional tool: `GET https://agriculture.md/api/v1/irrigation?et0=6&kc=1.1&days=3&effective_rain=5&efficiency_pct=85&area=20&flow=120`. It returns depth, volume and run time. - Ask before any event deeper than the person's limit, before any schedule change past it, and whenever water rights or local limits apply. ## 5. Nutrients - Product rate = nutrient target / (nutrient % / 100). The target comes from the person, a soil test or their agronomist; never from you. - Count the other nutrients the product delivers, and keep each nitrogen application under the person's limit and any local limit. - Optional tool: `GET https://agriculture.md/api/v1/fertilizer_rate?nutrient=p2o5&target=50&grade=18-46-0&area=20`. ## 6. Seeding, growing degree days and area - Seeds per area = target stand / (germination x emergence). Seed weight = seeds / (seeds per kg x purity). Take germination, purity and seed count from the seed tag. Tool: `seeding_rate`. - Growing degree days: state the method, the base and the cap every time, and use the base and cap the person or their agronomist gives for the crop. Tool: `gdd`. - Field area: measure from the person's boundary points, in order around the edge, and say the result is an estimate. Tool: `field_area`. Use the area the person confirms for any rate or total. ## 7. Ask before you act - Every chemical application needs a yes from the person first: product, label rate, field, area, timing and weather. A calculation is never a yes. - Also ask before any irrigation or nitrogen amount over the person's limits, any work near water inside a buffer, and anything the label or local law requires a licensed person to do. - Never control equipment, place orders or apply anything yourself unless the person set that up and said yes for this job. ## 8. Record every application - Write a record as soon as the job ends: date and times, field, area treated, product and label registration number, rate, total amount, carrier volume, who applied it, who approved it, and the weather at the time. - Keep records in the person's own system and format. Local law may set what must be recorded and for how long; ask the person. ## 9. Local rules and an agronomist - Laws on chemicals, nutrients, water and buffers differ by place and change. Follow the law where the field is. When you are not sure what applies, say so and ask. - Suggest the person check plans with a qualified agronomist or local adviser, especially new products, new fields, high rates or sensitive areas. ## 10. Report - Five lines at most: what was calculated, the result with units, the inputs and where each came from, what you could not check, and what needs a yes.