New Tool Helps Growers Make Calculations
On June 10, The Weather Channel Interactive (TWCi), in continued collaboration with Monsanto, launched the Growing Degree Days (GDD) calculator as a part of the Agriculture News & Forecast section of its Web site.
Agriculture News & Forecast section, launched this past January, is dedicated to weather and farming, and includes up-to-date weather information such as severe weather alerts affecting crops and detailed data about precipitation, wind and soil moisture.
Growers who use the site have been providing feedback for future designs, which has included the suggestion of a GDD calculator. GDD is a measurement that helps indicate anticipated crop growth of a plant by calculating the amount of accumulated heat over a specific period of time. To use the online GDD calculator, farmers simply enter the location, select a base temperature, and choose start and end dates.
“The growth and development of crops is directly impacted by the growing degree days, and having this information available can help farmers make better-informed management decisions,” Boyd Carey, Monsanto technology development lead, said. “TWCi has created an easy way for growers to run those calculations to compare different years at a given location. In a spring like this one where we’ve had so much rain and so many cloudy days across our agricultural production areas, this tool could prove useful immediately.”
The GDD calculator uses both forecast and 30-year climatology data from The Weather Channel, allowing for past, present or future calculations. The calculator draws from the most accurate weather data available, using proprietary TruPoint technology created by The Weather Channel. TruPoint forecasts allow for future weather information accurate up to 2 kilometers (1.24 miles). This technology combines traditional weather observations with even more data to create forecasts for more than 1.9 million locations – literally filling in the gaps of the reporting systems used by other providers.
Farmers can compare two different years’ GDD (as far back as 2003) for the same date range and location. Additionally, each calculation – one of the most complex on weather.com – includes the 30-year-average GDD for the selected dates and location—providing farmers the typical GDD for the selected time frame and location.
“This practical tool for the agricultural community is the result of true collaboration between weather.com and Monsanto,” Sheila Buckley, vice president of national sales for TWCi, said. “Feedback from our Monsanto partnership has enabled us to create the most comprehensive weather resource for farmers available anywhere online.”
