What Are SWAT MAPS?
Soil, Water, and Topography (SWAT) MAPS are high-resolution zone maps built using soil conductivity, elevation, topography, water flow, and other field data layers. These zones help identify how and why different areas of a field behave the way they do—making them the foundation for zone-based soil sampling, variable rate fertility, seed, and other precision agronomy decisions.
At 4R Farm Insights, we are a certified SWAT MAPS Service Provider, using this proven system to help farmers unlock more yield potential, optimize input use, and make confident, data-driven decisions tailored to each acre.
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Unleash the power of the SWAT ECOSYSTEM
How It Works
The SWAT ECOSYSTEM is a comprehensive 12-step process designed to enhance soil health and boost crop yields. It is divided into two main sections: the Soil Potential Process and the Yield Potential Process. It is powered by three key components that form its foundation, ensuring that the entire process is interconnected and executed seamlessly.
By following the steps in the SWAT ECOSYSTEM and utilizing these resources, SWAT MAPS service providers help their farmers unlock their full soil and yield potential, leading to more productive and sustainable farming practices.
The Soil Potential Process
Focuses on assessing and enhancing soil conditions
The Yield Potential Process
Aims to maximize crop yield based on soil health
Understanding Your Field's Variability
Ten different SWAT zones gives you the ability to tailor your practices to specific areas of the field, optimizing resources and increasing yield by addressing variations in soil, nutrients, and crop needs.
Unlock Your Soil Potential
Everything starts in the soil. the soil potential process is based on creating high resolution soil foundation maps used to execute variable rate fertilizer, seed, soil amendment, pesticide, or precision water management. Understanding soils is the core of a successful fertility program. As a service provider, 4R Farm Insights will execute a 6-step process:
1. SWAT BOX
The first step is collecting the quality data needed to create a SWAT MAP. As a service provider, we will drive the field(s) in 80 ft. passes, using a SWAT BOX. The SWAT BOX is a patented autonomous soil mapping system that can be mounted to many different vehicles, most commonly trucks, ATVs or other off-road vehicles, but also seeders or planters.
2. SWAT MAPS
The raw data collected by the SWAT Box automatically gets uploaded and sent to SWAT RECORDS software and is analyzed by experts, then it is used to create multiple potential SWAT MAPS.
3. Ground Truthing
With several potential SWAT MAPS created and uploaded to SWAT RECORDS, as a qualified service provider, 4R Farm Insights will return to the field(s) to ground-truth the maps and select the one that best represents your field. This one map becomes your permanent SWAT MPA to be used year after year. This is an essential step in the process, it ensures your SWAT MAP accurately depicts the soil and water variability in your field(s).
4. Soil Sampling
Once the SWAT MAP is ground-truthed, it's time to soil sample. Multiple cores are taken from 5 of the 10 SWAT zones, depending on field size, end goal, and the cost versus benefit of sampling intensity.
Soil Samples are taken every year after harvest at geo-referenced locations to track nutrient levels and ensure your prescriptions are meeting your target yields, accounting for soil mineralization and any nutrient losses.
5. Prescriptions
At 4R Farm Insights, we take the time to truly understand your operation — from your goals and equipment to your timelines and logistics. By building a trusted partnership, we work together to identify strategies that fit your system and move your farm forward.
With the right tools and agronomic expertise, we create and deliver zone-based prescriptions for fertilizer, seed, herbicide, and more — helping you make the most of every acre.
6. Soil Analytics
The final step in unlocking soil potential is to analyze key physical and chemical properties — like texture, nutrients, and salinity. This data helps explain how different soils influence crop response and provides a foundation for future agronomic decisions, including seed and fertility placement.
Unlock Your Yield Potential
The next stage in the SWAT MAPS process is the Yield Potential Process, it allows full-farm SWAT MAPS farmers take the next step in their precision agriculture journey. It provides premium in-crop services and industry-leading yield analytics.
7. SWAT WATER
Using SWAT MAPS as the base layer, SWAT WATER takes detailed soil moisture sensor data, to create a soil water map. SWAT WATER calculates the field's moisture holding capacity and plant available water. This information can be used for fertilizer top-dress applications, fungicides, growth regulators, and variable rate irrigation. To implement SWAT WATER, a weather station and soil moisture probe are required.
8. SWAT CAM
SWAT CAM is an automated imaging system designed to capture, assess, and evaluate crop establishment and weed pressure. The SWAT CAM is mounted to a sprayer (one SWAT CAM on each boom) and captures images every 50 to 70 feet. These images are automatically uploaded to SWAT RECORDS where the software isolates the crop versus weed leaf area as well as plant stands for certain crops.
9. IMAGERY
In season imagery can be helpful for monitoring all factors of your crops variability, not just soil and water. NDVI based maps are a great resource for writing VR on/off fungicide, crop desiccation, and plant growth regulator (PGR) prescriptions. When incorporated with the SWAT MAPS data layers, they can be used to enhance nitrogen topdressing prescriptions as well.
10. Crop Prescriptions
Take crop management to the next level by leveraging real-time crop variability and in-season crop response. Using your SWAT MAPS data layers, 4R Farm Insights can generate targeted prescriptions for on/off variable rate fungicide, plant growth regulators (PGRs), top-dress nitrogen applications, and crop desiccation timing
Farmers gain access to in-season prescriptions, tailored to changing crop conditions and field variability. This step can be crucial for increasing yield potential, improving input efficiency, and making confident in-season decisions — all while focusing efforts exactly where they matter most.
11. Yield Analysis
11. Yield Analysis
With cleaned and accurate yield data, 4R Farm Insights links zone-based yield performance to actual profit. This allows us to compare target vs. actual yields, adjust future goals, and identify low-return zones to refine management strategies.
Analyzing yield by SWAT zone helps uncover trends, improve input ROI, and understand yield stability — giving you a clearer picture of where your field performs best and where the risk lies.
Why SWAT MAPS Stands Apart
When it comes to precision agronomy, not all zone management systems are created equal. SWAT MAPS sets itself apart with a soil-first approach, stable zones, and proven long-term ROI. This side-by-side comparison highlights key differences between SWAT MAPS and other common mapping methods — from data quality to zone creation, scalability, and results.