This is a really great post that points to a similar “problem” that I mentioned in my ‘general setup’ post General setup - using logs, groups and tags templates
As a farmer interested but not capable in real programming I understand why you need the structure that farmOS uses. However, it feels like one has to try to develop a tagging system for them self which might hinder farmers from getting into farmOS and staying with it (this open system can also be a good thing since it enables lots of use cases).
For example the group membership and linage for plantings are still a bit confusing to me. I use them but I am not sure if its really needed. Somehow a lot of time is spend with tagging since you never know how you might want to structure something in the future. Maybe I tag too much but if there is a option to tag I try to add some information.
It might be a good idea if less structure is displayed or tagging is done automatically. For example if some machine purchase is added it adds the machine to the equipment side or if equipment is added with a price and date of purchase it adds it to the purchases.
Maybe it would make sense to show one crop/ bed… recording ‘log’ that has all information in it.
Cabbage Bed 123
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Seeding: Date, Amount …
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Transplant: Date, Density…
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Fertilizer: Date, Type, Nutrient amounts
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Harvest: Date, Amount, Calculated return, Calculated nutrient export
Well it looks like it might be a bit much information but it would be nicer than jumping between logs to get to the information that’s needed. I agree that having the option to see and edit the ‘raw’ data is very important. However, some layer on top with the main/ basic information presented might be saving time for data input and could be helpful for quick data checks.
Another option would be to auto-generate one ‘log’ from all related logs that contains just the main information with links to drill down to the detailed logs.