The Compare tool allows you to compare two analyses and identify what has changed between them.
The Compare tool can be accessed under an Analysis Actions ellipsis by clicking Compare. You will then need to select a Base analysis to compare it to:
Alternatively this can be done from within an analyses under the Reports tab:
Once you've selected the the two analyses to compare you will see a summary list of changes between the two analyses:
You can then navigate through each of the tabs to see the differences in:
- Nutrients
- GHG
- Climate/Soils
- Blocks
- Drainage
- Crops
- Animals
- Structures/Effluent
- Feed
- Fertiliser
- Irrigation
Examples of changes in management practices that can lead to increases in nutrient losses:
- Increase in crop block area - increase in cultivation events = increase in N mineralisation = increase in inorganic N in soil.
- Increase in synthetic fertiliser use
- Reduction in effluent area = increase in effluent rate
- Changes in irrigation management - e.g. increased use of fixed depth and return period - increased drainage
If your N or P losses have increased, the nutrients tab can be useful in identifying where the increase in losses are coming from:
For example:
- If leaching - urine patches has increased it is likely due to increase in stocking rate, or a change in stock ratios (e.g. increase in cattle:sheep ratio)
- Direct loss to water includes nutrients lost direct to waterways via the drainage system, nutrients deposited directly in waterways by animals, nutrients in effluent loss via the mole toile drainage system and nutrients discharged directly into a waterway from a 2-pond effluent system.
- If leaching - other has changed this can be particularly affected by the level of inorganic N in the soil and the level of drainage occurring in the block); plus losses from lanes, unlined standoff pads, effluent storage system, wintering pads and silage stacks. Increases in leaching - other losses maybe be due to changes in cultivation events, irrigation, structures etc.