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There are two ways to use the Draw Polygon tool:
  1. Draw a parcel or field from scratch, such as the boundary around a building, a parcel, or anything else you want to outline manually
  2. Remove non-productive acres from a field, such as a pond or an island of trees in the middle of a parcel or field

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Opening the Draw Polygon Tool

1
On the map, click Farm Builder in the upper right
2
Click Map Tools
3
Click the first icon, Draw Polygon
4
At the bottom of the screen you’ll see a measuring bar with feet and acres. To change the units, use the dropdowns: feet can be switched to miles, and acres can be switched to square miles or square feet.

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Drawing a Parcel or Field From Scratch

1
With Draw Polygon selected, click on the map to start drawing, then keep clicking around the boundary to drop points
2
Double-click to end the shape. The shape is added as a parcel in the Farm Builder panel.
If you draw a parcel manually, the parcel ID and the convenience link to assessor data will not be available.

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Removing Non-Productive Acres From a Field

Use this when there’s a pond, trees, or anything else in the middle of a parcel or field that you want to separate out.
1
In the Farm Builder, choose Start fields from parcels and continue to the fields step
2
Go back to Map Tools and click Draw Polygon again
3
Draw around the area you want to remove, such as an island of trees, then double-click to end the shape
4
The area is created as its own field, and its acres are subtracted from the original field. Repeat for any other areas.
5
Edit the new fields to mark those acres as non-productive, then continue building your farm
If you save a farm that consists of only a parcel, you will not be able to generate soil maps, crop history, or denote acre types, as these are all powered by having a field.

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FAQ

  • Use the Draw Polygon Tool if you want to:
    • Measure a precise area using feet or miles and acres, square miles, or square feet
    • Draw a field or parcel by hand
    • Isolate non-productive acres from a field that are surrounded by tillable acres
    • Isolate non-productive acres that span across more than one field or parcel
  • Use the Cut Tool if you want to:
    • Quickly divide a single field into multiple fields
    • Subdivide a parcel
    • Isolate non-productive acres that are along the border of a field
  • Yes. If your original shape is 80 acres and you use either the Draw Polygon or Cut tool to create a new 20 acre field, the original shape will now show as 60 acres.
Last modified on October 7, 2026