Field report
My Palm device is also a relational database management machine thanks to the application ThinkDB. It's able to track all of the field and crop information we're required to report to the FSA (Farm Service Administration). It also keeps tabs on everything we do in the fields.

I have created three databases called Field, FieldPrep, and Crop. The Field database contains information about a particular piece of land or a top-level item I want to track. This can be a field, an orchard, a windbreak planting, a sheep, or even a beehive. The FieldPrep database is where I record the information about what was done to prepare the Field item for its use in the current season. I also use this to track information about any soil amendments I've made, or treatments I've given to my livestock or my bees.

The Crop database is where we get specific. In here I record the row, bed, field, or hill location within a defined field of the crop I'm planting. I record the crop, the specific seed information, the plant data, the emergence date, the field in which it's located, the cost of the seed, harvest begin and end dates, harvest yield, and sales information at the specific crop level. This database also has a memo attached to each item for free-form notes about pests and other items of interest.

ThinkDB makes producing reports a snap, allowing me to generate customized reports in any way I can imagine, and I can beam them directly from my Palm device to my Canon BJC-50 printer. This makes filing my planting and harvesting information with the FSA extremely easy, since all of the information is literally in my pocket at all times!

Cultivating new applications
Using Quartus Forth, I have written a few applications specific to my farming needs. WindChillFactor helps me know what environment my crops and livestock are enduring while I'm warm and toasty in the tool shed.

Another application I wrote using Quartus Forth allows me to calculate area in many different ways. All FSA reporting requires input on the number of acres being farmed. However, most small operators such as myself are typically working within a few hundred or a few thousand square feet per crop. This application is great help in calculating these area conversions.

A third application I wrote using Quartus Forth helps in determining how much soil amendments (in other words, chemicals) to add. Typically, soil reports come back from the County Extension Office with chemical listings of "pounds per acre." This can be confusing for farmers like me who work on a smaller scale. Herschel George, our Miami County Extension Agent, told me recently that he often gets questions from people along the lines of, "How much of this chemical should I put on a 14 foot row of corn?" My application allows you to enter two formulas. One is for your area, and the other is for the application rate recommended on the package of chemicals you are applying. My hope is that this program can help reduce over-application of chemicals on small plots.