May 25, 2010

WeatherFarm offers maps tracking crop development

WeatherBug Professional's online weather service for Prairie farmers has added a new tool allowing wheat producers to track growing-degree-days on a map of their area, using their own seeding dates.

WeatherFarm, the service developed with support from the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), Richardson International, Bayer CropScience and others through a network of 700 Prairie weather stations, rolled out the new feature last week.

"Farmers can now more easily determine the best time and the best conditions to spray their fields," CWB agronomist Mike Grenier said in a board release announcing the new offering. "More effective applications can lead to cost-savings that will have a positive impact on farmers' bottom lines."

The board bills WeatherFarm's growth-stage model as "an improvement over current growing-degree-day tools, which are not customisable by seeding date and region."

Prairie farmers can use the customisable modelling tool to "optimise" their spraying and field scouting activities, the CWB said. The new models will continue to be enhanced in future releases with the addition of more crops and increased functionality, it added.

WeatherFarm is expected to add more agronomic support tools to help farmers manage pests and disease, and to increase the effectiveness of crop protection and crop management practices.

Upcoming features include enhanced models for wheat midge and fusarium, the CWB noted.Over 6,800 farmers have subscribed to the WeatherFarm online centre since its launch in December last year.