Roadmap for Fieldprint Platform and Digital Properties

The Fieldprint® Platform is a pioneering assessment framework that empowers brands, retailers, suppliers and farmers at every stage in their sustainability journey, to measure the environmental impacts of commodity crop production and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

About the Roadmap

Last updated November 2022
From science updates to new project management capabilities, Field to Market makes frequent updates to our technology platforms to provide our members and stakeholders with useful, streamlined tools and resources. Use this Digital Properties Roadmap to learn about upcoming enhancements and explore recent updates across our two major digital properties:

Fieldprint Platform – learn about updates to the science behind our eight sustainability metrics, as well as new features to help farmers and project administrators gain insights to enable continuous improvement.
Member Portal – learn about new project management tools and updated features available for project administrators as they plan, implement and report on Continuous Improvement Projects.

Fieldprint Platform

The Fieldprint® Platform is our assessment framework used to measure the environmental impacts of commodity crop production and identify opportunities for continuous improvement. The Fieldprint Platform is an umbrella term which includes both the Fieldprint Calculator and current integrations of the Fieldprint API by our seven Qualified Data Management Partners (QDMP).

Please note that because changes to the Fieldprint Platform may impact our broader sustainability framework, some enhancements are planned as part of a yearly science release, scheduled in June. Other updates are released as they are completed throughout the year.

Learn more about the Fieldprint Platform.

Upcoming Enhancements

Modifications to Fieldprint Calculator Data Input Workflow
Release Timing: Early 2023
Better organization of data inputs within the Fieldprint Platform Calculator web interface.

Continuous Improvement Project Report Template
Release Timing: Early 2023
Development of a standard Continuous Improvement Project report template.

Improved Crop Rotation Template Work in Fieldprint Calculator
Release Timing: Early 2023
Improved workflow in the Calculator web interface to help guide the creation of crop rotation templates.

Project Enrollment in Calculator
Release Timing: Early 2023
The addition of a continuous improvement project enrollment feature in the Calculator web interface to support project administrators with onboarding growers.

Adopting CR-LMOD 4
Release Timing: 2023 (Science Release)
Incorporating forthcoming updates to USDA Conservation Resources Land Management and Operations Database (CR-LMOD). The Fieldprint Platform uses CR-LMOD as part of a suite of back-end data and model services to provide secondary data when completing metrics calculations.

Recent Enhancements

Improved Fieldprint Calculator Map Interface
Release Timing: November 2022
Improved workflow in Calculator web interface for field creation plus added drawing tools.

Research Database
Release Timing: November 2021
To advance the science of sustainable agriculture, Field to Market is implementing a new database for scientific research. Through both the Fieldprint Calculator and participating QDMPs, users of the Fieldprint Platform will be able to “opt- in” to share their data with qualified and approved research projects. All data will be stored according to the database management privacy and security policies of Field to Market.
Learn more by reading the Field to Market Database for Scientific Research Standard Operating Procedure.

Bulk Field Import
Release Timing: November 2021
To provide users with additional options to import multiple field boundaries, we will be adding a bulk field import enhancement. This new feature allows users to upload a single file compressed ("zip") file containing one or more field boundaries in ESRI Shapefile format. Users can include various boundary file attributes such as Field Name, Farm Name, Plantable Acres and various soil properties.

New USDA NRCS Data Interoperability Capability
Release Timing: Late 2021
As part of a two-year partnership with USDA NRCS, Field to Market will deploy tools and guidance in the Fieldprint Calculator to help farmers leverage data collected in the Platform to pre-populate portions of data required for NRCS Conservation Application Ranking Tool (CART). This interoperability will provide growers using the FiIeldprint Platform more efficient access to USDA cost-share programs and other conservation services. The new tools include a grower bulk data export feature and guidance on mapping Fieldprint Platform data to CART.

Fieldprint Platform Version 4
In July 2021, Field to Market released Version 4 of the Fieldprint Platform (Calculator and Fieldprint API). The release comes as part of the yearly science release and includes several important science enhancements: one major enhancement, Update to the Water Quality Metric, and other minor enhancements such as Enforcing WEPS Calibration Mode. Version 4 will also include implementation of COMET Planner as a Soil Carbon Scenario Tool within the online Calculator. For more information about the Version 4 release, please reference the Fieldprint Platform Version 4.0 Release Overview.

Version 4: Update to the Water Quality Metric
Release Timing: June 2021 Science Release
Following a review by Field to Market’s Metrics Committee, Board of Directors, and a public comment period, Field to Market is updating our Water Quality Metric, replacing the NRCS Water Quality Index (WQI) tool with STEP (Stewardship Tool for Environmental Performance). This enhancement enables our members to better characterize the site-specific, relative potential for nutrient loss and effectiveness of conservation practices on a given field by accounting for the specific soil, topography and climatic conditions.

The Water Quality Metric update will be released in Version 4 as part of the yearly science release in June 2021. To learn more about the decision to replace WQI with STEP, read Field to Market Water Quality Metric: Proposed replacement for the Water Quality Index. For more information on the impact for users, please read the Version 4 Release Guide.

Version 4: Enforcing WEPS Calibration Mode
Release Timing: June 2021 Science Release
Beginning in Version 4 the Platform will enforce use of Crop Calibration Mode when accessing the USDA Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) model integrated in the backend of the Platform. Prior to Version 4, crop calibration mode was optional; in some instances, not using the calibration mode can lead to large errors in wind erosion model results. Recommended by NRCS, running in crop calibration mode produces the most accurate wind erosion rate in WEPS. This change has the potential to impact the Soil Conservation metric results. See the Version 4 Release Guide for more details.

Version 4: COMET-Planner Scenario Tool
Release Timing: June 2021 Science Release
Field to Market will be implementing a USDA NRCS COMET Planner Scenario Tool within the Calculator as part of the Version 4 releases. This new tool will offer farmers and project sponsors a resource to easily and quickly estimate the potential for soil carbon change in response to a recent or planned management change. The scenario tool will help projects working to quantify soil health improvements as well as projects focused on climate impacts and resilience to motivate and incentivize greater adoption of conservation practices including cover crops, tillage, and nutrient management.

New Metric Recalculation Feature
Released January 2021
A newly released enhancement to the Fieldprint Calculator alerts project administrators when crop years associated with a project were calculated on prior metrics versions and offers a quick option to recalculate using the current metric.

Located in the Manage Project Data section of the Project Administrators' page, administrators can now click the “Recalculate Data” button to correct effected crop years. After the recalculation is complete, administrators will receive a confirmation e-mail from the Platform along with a report on any encountered errors. The Field Crop-year Associations section of the page has also been updated to include a column showing the metrics version of each crop year.

Field to Market Member Portal

Field to Market’s Member Portal provides our members a streamlined point of access for tools, resources and news about Field to Market. Project Administrators can access critical project management tools on the portal, including scoping or registering a new project, finding collaborators in the Partnership Exchange, and reporting on project outcomes during the Project Reporting period in February—April of each year.

Take a tour of the Member Portal

Upcoming Enhancements to the Member Portal

The following member-request enhancements are being planned for the member portal:

Simplified Project Data Collection
Release Timing: Late 2022
A streamlined project scoping form is being developed which will allow members to more quickly register their interest in the Partnership Exchange and stand up new projects and collaborations.

Project Data Export
Release Timing: Late 2022
An upcoming enhancement will allow project administrators to export all of their project data to a single PDF, streamlining access to your project information.

County and Watershed Visibility
Release Timing: Late 2022
An update to Continuous Improvement Project pages will allow project administrators to document your goals in improving outcomes in particular counties and watersheds, enhancing the local data available in the Project Directory.

Improved Search Functionalities
Release Timing: Late 2022
An update to the Member Portal search functionality will make it easier for members to search across the project hub, learning center and member directory to quickly access information. Additional facets on the Project Directory will also improve the ability of stakeholders to dig into project attributes.

Share Your Ideas

Your feedback is critical as we plan and prioritize technology development. Please let us know if you have a need for a future enhancement to any of our digital properties.