The Citrus Research and Field Trial Foundation, Inc. (CRAFT) has a website with a public dashboard that houses the data that participating growers have submitted. A recent University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension newsletter included an article describing how to access the data from the CRAFT grower field trials. The article, summarized here, was written by multi-county citrus Extension agent Ajia Paolillo.
The CRAFT public dashboard website defaults to “Examine Plots and Layouts.” From this point, users can navigate through many different categories to view data on each plot or a group of plots.
At the top of the page, users can sort and view plots based on contract year, contract number, county, ecoregion, trial group, rootstock and scion. Each of these categories provides the ability to select one or more options to broaden or narrow down the data to view.
The “Contract Year” will show selections by year. This corresponds to the CRAFT Cycle I, II or III in which the plot was enrolled. “Ecoregion” allows users to see all plots in one area (for example, the Southeast Florida Flatwoods).
“Trial Group” allows a user to view plots within groups such as scion/rootstock or fertilizer/nutrition in which treatments are evaluated. Plot locations and boundaries are displayed on the map on the left of the page. Users can also select from the Plots List in the center of the page to view details on specific plots.
At the bottom of the page, users can view information relating to the grower’s survey, Aerobotics data, charts and graphs, and harvest data. Directions for use and an explanation of the data shown for each of these options can be found on the far left of the screen. If it is not displayed, simply click on the small arrow to view this information.
The grower survey gives specific information on the plot, such as treatment, tree spacing, pesticide use, fertilizer use and related costs. The Aerobotics data is shown for selected plots only and reports data for tree canopy density and color relating to tree health. The charts and graphs summarize data based on user selections of data to view and provide total acres, number of experimental units by rootstock and average production costs by category.
Since the oldest trees are between 3 and 4 years old, from Cycle I, harvest data is limited but is currently reported for approximately 18 plots. Harvest data includes total harvest yield, pre-harvest fruit drop, boxes per acre and acid/Brix ratio.
Information on plots is updated frequently as growers submit their data for each site. Growers and stakeholders can utilize the information on this dashboard to follow the trends in each group/treatment to view and compare data in many ways depending on their needs.
Source: UF/IFAS
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