Weather stations on farms

WHY THIS PROJECT WAS NEEDED

This project addressed a black spot in local weather information between Wagga Wagga and Corowa.

Weather information is extremely important to farmers, as events such as frost, rain, spray damage and soil moisture can have a significant impact on farm profits.

Funding from Murray LLS and Riverina LLS allowed for six weather stations and moisture probes to be installed on farms in the Riverina. The location of the six weather stations and soil moisture probes were chosen based on soil type and location, in order to give the best coverage possible in the RPI membership area.

In short: To address a local weather information gap, six weather stations and moisture probes were installed between Wagga Wagga and Corowa. Funded by Murray LLS and Riverina LLS, these stations provided crucial data on rainfall, wind, and soil moisture, assisting farmers with operational decision-making.

Project focus

The weather stations were installed in September 2015 and were located in Rand, Culcairn, Berrigan, Barooga, Lockhart and Henty. The information provided by the weather stations included rainfall, wind speed and direction, delta T and soil moisture graphs (30cm- 150cm). The data was logged in the field every 30 minutes and uploaded to the website using the Weather station and soil moisture network.

The soil moisture graphs show the depth and amount of moisture in the soil. From these graphs, it is possible to see the depth to which the crops are drawing moisture. After a rainfall event, the graphs also indicate how far down the profile the moisture has percolated.

Key messages from the project’s 2023 trials were:

• Privately owned, on-farm weather stations provide real-time data that informs and supports decision-making by farmers 
• A connected, robust regional network of on-farm weather stations has the potential to support decision-making for a wider range of farmers and emergency services
• Having access to real-time climate and soil moisture data through on-farm weather stations can provide a range of private benefits to farmers
• On-farm weather stations can help inform crop choice at sowing, helping to prevent crop failure in high-risk crops and improve returns from grain marketing; these benefits can increase profit by between $36/ha to $655/ha, with the largest benefit occurring when crop failure in canola is prevented
• Public benefits from a weather station network include the prevention of dust storms, achieved by maintaining ground cover, which has an estimated public benefit of $300 million per year
• Further work is required to determine the return on investment for how connecting on-farm weather stations through Robust Weather Station Network will increase the sustainability and profitability of grain growers.
  

   

  Detailed results from this trial were published in Research for the Riverine Plains, 2024. Read the full article The business case for having a robust network of on-farm weather stations in the Riverine Plains.