Birchip Cropping Group has undertaken a pilot project, installing a network of Davis Vantage Pro2 weather stations. These weather stations collect, store and deliver rainfall, temperature, humidity and wind data direct to grower’s smartphones, 24 hours a day.
At the Future Farmers Expo last week, a panel session with Minyip farmer Paul Petering, BCG CEO Chris Sounness and BCG Technical Officer Chris Cook discussed the benefits and challenges of installing these weather stations and using the data.
For Mr Petering, locating his weather station in the centre of his farm has improved his confidence when making operational decisions, providing a more accurate summation of weather events compared to data from his closest Bureau of Meteorology station located at Longerenong.
“What is happening at Longerenong is often not the same as what is happening on my farm,” he said.
“With more local information there is less risk of spray drift and the fire safety index information allows me to feel safer about harvesting in the right conditions.”
Installing the weather stations across the BCG member network has been a rewarding project for Mr Cook who has seen the benefits gained by growers and helped overcome the challenges faced.
“People have told me how much they love sitting at home, watching TV and having their phone in their hand looking at the rain gauge fill up,” he said.
A more practical example includes a grower who used weather station data for hay baling operations. Instead of needing to physically go to the paddock in the early hours to check conditions, they could get live information straight from their bed.
However, the project hasn’t been without its challenges – most notably, the interaction with wildlife. Birds would often use parts of the station as a cleaning tool for their beaks.
“Making sure technology is ‘farm ready’ is an important step to integrating it into the business and being able to rely on it for decision making,” Mr Sounness said.
“There will always be difficulties on a farm relating to wildlife, weather, machinery and other factors that simply cannot be avoided.”
He also noted that any farm technology, whether it be hardware or software, needed to serve a purpose on farm and make life easier for the grower, not add to workload and expenses.
For weather station owners, data from the stations is already starting to assist operations. With the addition of soil probes as the project progresses, it is expected that an extra layer of information will soon be provided to further enhance decision making.
To find out more about the weather station project, visit www.bcg.org.au or call the office on (03) 5492 2787.
This article was published in the Stock and Land, 13 July.
Below you can find the recording for this presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsfVDpVFBwU&t=4s
