The service will now include 400 weather stations
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A group of agricultural co-operatives announced plans to expand their web-based weather service across southwestern Ontario.
The AGGrower Daily Dashboard, developed by AGRIS Co-operative, Wanstead Farmers Co-operative and Haggerty Creek Ltd., currently relies on 80 automated weather stations to collect information.
The expansion will see that number jump to 400 stations, giving producers more local data to consult before making decisions.
"Our web-based weather service will assist producers in managing their crops by providing real time precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed, growth models on individual fields, and notifications of critical stages during the growth cycle," Dale Cowan, senior agronomist and sales manager for AGRIS Co-operative and Wanstead Farmers Co-operative, said in a May 9 release.
"The AGGrower Daily Dashboard will also assist in timely do-it-yourself crop scouting using integrated pest management principles."
To help with the expansion, Cowan is looking for volunteers to join the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow network, a group dedicated to creating and measuring moisture maps. These “citizen scientists” would be responsible for collecting and recording rainfall data.
And they must live in Essex, Chatham-Kent, Lambton, West Middlesex or Elgin Counties.
"These volunteers would be part of a larger community of like-minded people that would help support our automated weather stations with additional rainfall data to support our new initiative of the AGGrower Daily Dashboard program,” Cowan said in the statement.