Currently, Overyield is optimized to model perennial crops spaced at wider intervals (above 1 x 1 ft). For tightly spaced crops like corn or soy, whose numbers range from 30-120 thousand plants per acre, modeling returns can result in overly long load times within Overyield. Additionally, yield is currently calculated on a per tree basis within OY, meaning modeling annuals is less intuitive. However, it can be done!

To model annual row crops or very tightly spaced perrenials, users must retrofit their crop template to calculate per area yields.

To do so, you must think creatively about your crop template's spacing, target yield, yield model, and nursery cost. Read on to walk through this process:

To model annuals, you must pretend that your Target Yield Per Tree represents Target Yield Per Area Unit, i.e. lbs/bdft per hectare or per acre.

In the example below, 8400 lbs (per acre) is corn's target yield.

That said, the back-end of OY still calculates yield on a per tree basis:

Yield = Stem Count x Target Yield per tree x Yield adjustments .

This means you will need to ensure that the stem count in your design equals the total acreage of the crop to accurately model per acre yield.

To ensure that stem count = acreage, you must adjust your Between Row Spacing and In Row Spacing .

In the above example, corn spacing is set to 208.71 ft x 208.71 ft (i.e. 1 square acre), so that only 1 corn plant is represented in a single acre.

Of course, spacing might change depending on your land unit (hectares vs. acres) and based on the actual shape of your field, but the end result must be the same: 1 plant per 1 land unit.

If you fields are drawn irregularly, you will need to manually adjust spacing and rotate your rows via the design page to reach the desired stem count.

In the example below, we have adjusted our corn spacing and rotation manually until we reach a total stem count (3 corn plants) that approximately equals the total acreage of corn (3.27 acres). Note: The remaining .27 acres will be accounted for later, via yield adjustments.

The following video will walk you through steps 1 and 2 in more detail:

Within a standard crop template, the values you enter for Percentage target yield per year should reflect yield increases or decreases incurred as a tree crop matures and develops over a 30 year period. For annuals that reach maturity each year, these values will consistently be 100%.

That said, this is also where you can account for any discrepancies between stem count and acreage observed in step 2. Simply add the percent discrepancy to 100%.

For example, in the above example, .27 acres were not accounted for, which represents about 9% of your total acreage. Thus, you can add 9% to 100% to ensure this yield is accounted for.

Any seeding costs can be entered within the Operations section of your crop template.