A farm
of approximately 1500 acres with contiguous fields normally takes
about 20 hours to complete. This involves downloading the satellite
imagery, assembling it, CAD program setup and the actual drawing with
the computer and subsequent file preparation. Normally added
features include field boundries, field names, acres in each field,
geophysical features such as rivers, streams, ponds, irrigation and
drainage detail. Extra detailing takes more time and incurs
a $20 dollar per hour charge. Average charges for drawing a
1500 acre farm will fall between $350 to $400.
Because the time
required to draw the map(s) can be so variable, I can only quote an
exact price to a potential customer if that client can provide me
with:
A. Copies of FSA maps which have the farm property boundries
and field borders outlined so as to be identifiable on aerial imagery.
These maps can be had at your local FSA office at no charge.
B.
A complete and accurate description of any changes to field borders,
field acreage or drainage ditches made sine the date the FSA maps
were made.
C. A detailed and accurate description of the
farm drainage. This mans locations of major and minor ditches.
These type details can be seen on aerial imagery but often their exact
nature cannot be determined. Sometimes a grassy road looks like
a ditch for example.
D. The locations of irrigation wells,
underground pipe, risers, re-lift pumps and surface water storage
areas.
E. Any additional features beyond those listed above
will need to be described as accurately as possible on FSA map copies
so their nature, shapes and positions can be accurately drawn.
It
often takes two or three drafts of the farm map being submitted to
the client to accomodate all the changes needed due to drawing errors,
mis-communication, and oversights. Any additional re-draws or major
editing beyond that described above may entail additional charges
of $25 per hour. The map is not complete until you are satisfied
with it's appearance. Extra drawing time arising from errors on my
part are done at no charge.
If you are interested in using my services,
contact me by
email and I will provide my postal mailing address and
telephone number. Upon receiving the required information detailed
above, I will send you a firm price quote for drawing your farm maps.
What
you get for the quoted price is :
(1) A ".pdf" formated
map file that is set up to print to ANSI-E size paper of 36" width.
This map file will print razor sharp lines at this large size and
makes a very nice wall display when printed on good quality paper
or when laminated.
(2) A second ".pdf" formated map file
that will print to 8 1/2" x 11" letter size paper. This map
file does not have all the small detailing of the large map but still
retains major geographical features, roads, major drainage features,
field names or numbers with FSA acreage. This maps intended
purpose is for day to day usage and record keeping.
(3) A third
".psd" formated map file that is used for cropping information and
record keeping. The map contains a crop legend with adjacent
color coded box for each individual crop planted on the farm. Most
folks already have a copy of Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements already
installed on their computers and with either of these programs,
you can simply go to the colored box next to the desired crop with
Photoshop's eyedropper tool, pick up the color and then use the paintbucket
tool to drop that color into the appropriate field. This is
an excellent method of record keeping for those times in the future
when crop rotation plans are being made.
I also am prepared to
email the ANSI-E file, at no charge, to any printing store (such
as Kinkos) so that all you would have to do is pick up the map and
pay a nominal printing charge of around $5 for each copy printed on
36" wide paper. A CD with all drawn map files will be included
in the pricing package.
Special Map Requirements: The type
of information that can be included on these maps is
only limited
by the availability of the information supplied to me or the space
requirements of the
map itself. Colorized versions are available
to further differentiate or enhance the drawn in
details for no additional
charge.
Examples of special map requirements might be field grades
of precision leveled fields, additional drainage details, routing
of polypipe, information about woodland types and pertinent information
for hunting interests such as locations of duck blinds, deer stands
and game refuge areas.
Thank You,
Jim Pennington
Monroe, Louisiana