Earlier this year, we launched Riverine Plains Weather, a new platform providing farmers with local real-time weather and soil information.
Using a network of 16 on-farm weather stations at Bungeet, Barooga, Berrigan, Rand, Coreen, Boree Creek, Culcairn, Burrumbuttock, Rutherglen, Pleasant Hills, Lockhart, Burramine, Tungamah, Miepoll, Urana, and Oaklands, along with 17 soil moisture probes, farmers now have access to local data in areas far from BoM sites.
The "Paddock Connect” homepage is where you'll find real-time local rainfall, wind speed and direction, temperature, delta T, soil temperature, soil moisture and spraying conditions data, while the “Robust Soil Probes” Dashboard gives farmers soil moisture and temperature insights at different depths across the soil profile.
The “Spraymate” Dashboard provides spraying forecasts for the next 24, 48 hours, and 4 days and other tools like Windy offer wind maps and weather forecasts. There's also a Market Dashboard which provides information on auctions, grain prices, and livestock markets, helping farmers to keep up with pricing and market trends.
Riverine Plains Weather is free to access and is hosted by PairTree. It integrates data from five networks including Riverine Plains, Holbrook Landcare Network, Birchip Cropping Group, Central West Farming Systems, Agriculture Victoria, and NSW DPI. It's best accessed on desktop for now.
The Riverine Plains Weather network received a 4G upgrade, provided by Goanna Ag and funded through the Australian Government’s Preparing Australian Communities Program and contributions from host farmers.
The platform also received funding through the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub.