A process of recommending crop varieties based on management categories. The management categories are determined by utilizing indices, which measure the economic implication of physical and chemical properties of a specific soil type in a region. The management categories may then be indicated graphically by indicia overlaying digitized soil maps, each of the indicia grouping soil types within a management category. Each crop variety is characterized by how the crop variety performs in each of the management categories. Each of the crop varieties may then be assigned an indicium of the management category for which it is adapted.