More farmers are sharing weather data so they can improve decisions when it comes to crop management.
Farmers, agronomists and buying groups have embraced data collaboration – recognising its value in day-to-day farm management and the effective use of crop protection products, according to agri-weather pioneers Sencrop.
The French agri-tech start-up has activated 250 private weather networks across Europe – with 25 of those networks within the UK – connecting over 9,000 on-farm stations from its total of 15,000.
“During 2020 we doubled the number of ag weather stations in the UK,” says Sencrop UK market co-ordinator Fleur van Luijk. “A quarter of our stations are connected collaboratively within a private network, enabling access to data from other stations.”
Users – whether farmers, advisers, contractors, managers or anyone else with authorisation – can retrieve all weather data in a secure, ultra-localised manner using a smartphone app or a standard browser.
Armed with this information, farmers can better anticipate weather or disease risks, allocate daily tasks to make the most of appropriate weather windows and ensure best practice when using crop protection products.
Agronomists are using shared data to improve their recommendations to customers. Processors and buyers are using it to develop harvest strategies that optimise harvest windows, while maintaining supply volumes.
Nearly one in 10 of the networks include more than 100 farmers or more than 100 stations – with customers configuring networks to suit their own needs. Over half the networks have more than 10 stations, ranging from a few square miles upwards.
