This guide covers how to configure Leaf for crop insurance programs that automate acreage reporting, production data collection, and claims validation. It replaces manual data entry and paperwork while improving the grower experience.
Account structure
Use a single API owner per environment (production, test, staging). Each Leaf user represents one insured — a grower or policyholder.
This approach:
- Makes grower onboarding simple — send a Magic Link or connect provider credentials manually.
- Keeps billing clear, since each Leaf user’s acres and field operations are tracked separately.
- Lets you apply different configurations per Leaf user when needed (e.g., different
operationsProcessingRange values for growers in different regions or crop cycles).
Data needs
Crop insurance programs typically need two types of field operations:
Planting operations — plant dates and boundaries for acreage reporting. You need to know what was planted, when, and where.
Harvest operations — yield or production data for validating claims at the end of the season.
In many cases, you don’t need point-level GeoJSON. Leaf’s operation summaries provide the field-level totals (crop, area, yield) that feed acreage and production reports. If you do need to verify precise yield values or perform deeper analysis, the standardGeoJSON and filteredGeoJSON outputs are available.
Processing rules
If your current workflow relies on SMS or a similar tool, you’ll want Leaf’s processed output to match as closely as possible. The configurations that have the most impact on final yield values are:
cleanupStandardGeojson (default: true) — removes points marked as invalid from the standard GeoJSON output. Leave this enabled.
cleanupRules — defines which data points are considered valid. The defaults filter out zero-yield points, negative values, and points where recording status is off. If your current pipeline uses different thresholds, you can customize these rules. Setting custom rules replaces the entire default rule set — include every rule you need.
operationsRemoveOutliers (default: true) — removes harvest points where yield falls outside the standard deviation threshold. Works with operationsOutliersLimit.
operationsOutliersLimit (default: 3) — the number of standard deviations from the mean beyond which harvest yield points are flagged as outliers. Adjust this if your current pipeline uses a different threshold.
unitMeasurement — set to IMPERIAL or METRIC to get consistent units across all providers. Using DEFAULT preserves whatever the source data uses, which can vary.
For additional processing customization beyond configurations, ask your Leaf CSM about Workflows.
Sync granularity
Controlling which data Leaf pulls is critical for crop insurance. You’re connecting grower accounts that may have years of history across many fields, but you probably only need the current season.
operationsProcessingRange — the lookback period in months. The default of 12 captures the rolling past year. Set this to match your reporting window. If you only need the current crop year, a shorter window reduces processing time and billing.
customDataSync — when set to true, Leaf fetches fields in preview mode only (no boundaries, no files). You then select which fields to fully process. Use this when you only need specific fields rather than an entire farm.
organizationDataSync — controls which John Deere organizations are included. Set to SELECTED_ONLY if you’re connecting grower accounts that have access to multiple organizations and you only need data from specific ones.
Configuration changes are not retroactive. Set your configurations before connecting grower accounts. If you need to reprocess data after a configuration change, use the Reprocess Operation endpoint.
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