ISHS Acta Horticulturae 276: II International Symposium on Computer Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard Management
CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE OPERATION OF A REAL TIME WEATHER INFORMATION SYSTEM |
| Authors: | G.E. Bingham, G.L. Ashcroft, G.D. McCurdy |
| Abstract:
Modern orchard management requires up-to-date information on many weather related parameters. The development of the personal computer and a variety of management models can significantly decrease the cost and increase production and longevity of orchards. Models for pest management, nutrition, dormancy, water use, growth stage and many other important variables are available to the manager. The advent of microprocessor based data collection modules and low cost telemetry systems make the necessary input data readily available, in near real time, to the farm manager. Fed automatically into a personal computer, the manager can examine a broad suite of reports and prognostications for his particular location. When combined with a climate data base and detailed forecasts, the manager can examine the results of future options of yield, profit, and management choices. Unfortunately, except on the largest production facilities, the personnel and time to make detailed studies in the middle of the production season are not available. Hourly operational demands eat up every waking moment. Even on the large farm, information from other producing areas is important to provide an intelligent framework for many decisions. To make this information available to managers at all scales, a weather data collection and modelled data dissemination network is required. The economies of scale from netscale computing and large scale information input available from a network can provide insight to the smallest operator for a fraction of the cost (money, time and effort) that would be required to operate an independent system. In this paper we will review our experience, gathered over the past 10 years, in collecting and disseminating near real time data and management information to a wide range of farmers and orchard managers. We will review the changes in data collection equipment, the strategies of data collection, processing and distribution that we have found most useful. We will also attempt to identify those gaps in currently available technology that limit the farm operator and network manager in their attempt to close the loop between farm data collection and near real time return of value added products. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
