Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 | Page 73

Tech & innovation Automated Weather Stations Weather stations are used for measuring and daily, this in turn aids decision making on farms. include identifying historical weather patterns. Identifying historical weather patterns is crucial recording climate. Climate data and weather patterns play a huge role in modern day farming. Good decision making in the agricultural in deciding which crops to plant in speci c areas. Weather stations are mostly used for agricultural industry prevents situations that could have A record of climatic data also aids the current applications to measure and record temperature, been easily managed with the right requirement for certi ed farming. Farms have to relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed, leaf environmental information at hand. Planning provide proof why certain crop spraying decisions Many weather for storms is one of these situations, losing were made, and if those decisions were taken in a stations and models are available, but few livestock or machinery can easily be avoided if responsible way. Knowing and understanding the weather stations or models offer solutions or you know what weather is to be expected and environment and the changes that occurred over wetness and wind direction. calculations that are needed in modern day iLeaf weather stations are the correct tool to do the past 10 or 20 years can lead to the success or precision farming. t his. Having an early warning system also failure of your planned crop. In modern day improves the safety of your workforce and farming, planning your crops have become Hortec offers such a solution through its property. increasingly important, knowing how many cold units a speci c cultivar or crop needs, the amount automated weather stations and accompanying soware. iLeaf soware enables users to access e prevention of growth of pathogens is of water the planned crop needs and knowing the the data directly on an hourly basis. another important factor to consider. ese diseases and infections the crop or plantation is iLeaf works with modern and robust technology outbreaks can be managed by spraying susceptible to. Successful farmers around the with hardware that is durable and effective in all effectively; early detection works as one of the globe have deployed this tactic over the past weather conditions. e station transmits data best tools when managing infections. e iLeaf decade to plan their next crop and have had great through GPRS signal to a cloud based server weather system also advises farmers on when success with this strategy. where the data is stored and accessed through the the perfect time of day is to spray. web through any mobile device. is enables the e current water situation in the southern iLeaf Weather systems have many advantages and user to have real-time access to weather data and hemisphere has led to more and more droughts can greatly improve your knowledge of the up to date hourly weather forecasting. Web and planning your water usage and irrigation environment, this leads directly to improved crop yields and can nancially bene t the farmer. access can be gained through any device such as a needs has become very important. iLeaf desktop computer, smart phone or tablet. calculates evapotranspiration thus enabling the user to know the exact water loss above ground, For more information please visit www.ileaf.co.za When investing in a weather station the bene ts determine the volume that is needed to top up, to unlock the potential of your crops. are vast. Local weather conditions vary from and to plan ahead for water requirements. iLeaf generic forecasting models that use satellite weather station systems accurately indicate how By Albert de Vries imaging to predict and calculate downpour as many millimeters of rainfall the speci c Hortec (Pty) LTD well as barometric pressure. Your personal position of your weather station had. and accurate weather forecast updated twice www.farmersreviewafrica.com [email protected] www.hortec.co.za weather station enables you to have dependable Long term bene ts of the iLeaf weather system [73] FARMERS REVIEW AFRICA 021 851 1044 July - August 2017