For an accurate and uniform registration of weather data, all growers who participate in the Crop Tour have a sencrop weather station. "A particularly user-friendly app to quickly read the data", Jesse Torringa, coordinator of the Crop Tour, is told by growers. The growers mention the rapid availability of the current data from remote fields in particular as an important advantage of the weather station.
"In recent weeks we have seen how large precipitation differences can be at a short distance from each other. Where 60 mm fell on the house plot during a downpour, on a plot a few kilometers away it was less than 10 mm", Torringa outlines the importance of talking about local to have data. A grower can easily read the data that a Sencrop weather station collects in an app on his phone. With just two clicks, he can see how much precipitation has fallen.
The weather stations collect a lot of data. In addition to precipitation, they also measure temperature, humidity, wind speed and dew point, for example. The system collects the data so that you can request the cumulative precipitation amount over a longer period of time with one click. In addition, the station provides a local weather forecast, where you can choose between different weather models.
Link weather stations
The weather stations of the 18 participants in the Crop Tour are connected to each other. This means that the participants can track a limited number of data - such as the amount of precipitation - together. "They like to see what is happening with colleagues and how they respond to it," says Torringa. The big advantage of the ability to link weather stations is that you get access to the data of Sencrop users nearby. This gives you an accurate and very local representation of weather data in your own area."
Accurate measurement
A comment that Torringa sometimes gets from some growers is that they question the accuracy of the electronic measurement. "They then notice a difference between the measurement of the (calibrated) Sencrop weather station and the 'good old' glass rain gauge. distance can be quite different."
More than a digital rain gauge
Not all growers are equally active with all the weather data that the weather station can provide them. "Some growers use the weather station as a digital version of the glass rain gauge," says Torringa. "That has to do with the nature of the beast. Some growers are simply more concerned with data and how it can support their business operations than others. That's a shame because that way they don't use all the possibilities that the system offers."
smart farming
Torringa, himself the son of a farmer, finds a weather station like Sencrop's money well spent. "Certainly for remote fields, you can keep a finger on the pulse without having to drive there every time. In addition, the data is automatically recorded. Various cultivation management systems can automatically load the data from the weather station and process it in the advice modules. It is a step towards smart farming."