Effective root zone use in crop management

A method of determining an effective root zone for a crop in an agricultural monitoring system, wherein the agricultural monitoring system comprises (a) a data management system hosted on a server and (b) a monitoring device associated with at least one sensor and at least partially located within soil, the monitoring device being adapted to measure a moisture level of the soil at a plurality of different depths, the monitoring device also being adapted to wirelessly transmit data representative of the moisture level of the soil at the plurality of different depths, the method comprising the following steps performed by the data management system:

• receiving data from the monitoring device, wherein the data is representative of the moisture level of the soil at each of the plurality of different depths;
• determining, for each of the plurality of different depths and based on the received data, whether each of a plurality of incremental changes in soil moisture is relevant for root uptake;
• determining whether each of the plurality of incremental changes in soil moisture determined to be relevant for root uptake are due to drainage;
• determining, for each of the plurality of different depths, whether root uptake occurs based at least on those incremental changes in soil moisture occurring at that particular depth that are not due to drainage;
• determining an amount of root uptake for each of the plurality of different depths where root uptake occurs;
• and
• using at least the determined amounts of root uptake and a predetermined effective root zone criteria, determining an effective root zone for the crop.