Even though farmers cannot control the weather, knowing about it beforehand can help them in planning and making their business decisions. Some of these decisions include irrigating the crop, fertilizing it, and deciding the days when it is suitable to work on the fields. These decisions based on the weather forecast can influence the farm’s productivity and profitability.
Farmers need to monitor several factors that affect their activities, such as soil moisture, amount of sunshine, and temperature to produce a good crop. Detailed weather forecasts with the past, present, and future records can help them understand the environmental aspects that can affect the factors mentioned above. It also helps them to control their costs or production.
For example, if there is a forecast of rain, farmers need to spend money to irrigate the fields. That is why most farmers use weather APIs these days to monitor the weather and get forecasts. These APIs collect data from several sources and analyze them to project an accurate forecast of climatic conditions. The APIs also provide historical data that farmers can use in their weather module to control irrigation.
Farmers can get alerts for severe weather conditions so that they can be prepared as much as possible. Farmers can learn about the best weather APIs of 2020 and their features in this ClimaCell’s post. Most weather APIs provide a range of information, such as precipitation measurement, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, air temperature, humidity, and many others that can help farmers plan their operations.
Some advanced APIs also provide advanced mapping features that provide visual information that is easy to understand and analyze. These improvisations help farmers to analyze soil data in a proficient way to make informed decisions related to farming. Even though APIs can help with almost every aspect of farming, four activities get benefitted the most.
Irrigation and Crop Growth
Crops need the right amount of moisture, sunlight, and temperature to grow. If farmers need to ensure the maximum amount of healthy produce, they must control each of these factors. Since they cannot always control the amount of sunlight or temperature on their farm, they regulate all three of them with the help of irrigation.
When the weather is hot, they increase the amount of water and reduce it when it rains. Being able to apprehend the weather allows them to control the amount of irrigation according to the forecast. It also helps them reduce the cost of producing the crop and maximize their profit.
Timing the Fertilization
Another necessary decision that farmers need to make is to predict the right time to fertilize, the amount and the form of fertilizer they must use to maximize productivity. If they make an error in calculating the time, amount, or form of fertilizer, it could result in severe losses.
Farmers need to fertilize the crops when it is dry weather so that the fertilizer does not get washed away. However, the soil should not be so dry that it hinders the absorption of the maximum amounts. That is why farmers use weather APIs to estimate the essential aspects of fertilization.
Pests and Diseases
Pests and diseases need the right environment and weather conditions to grow and destroy the crop. Farmers can integrate the weather APIs with their pest control modules so that they can monitor the right time to apply pest and disease control measures.
Farmers also need to monitor the wind direction and speed before they apply the pesticides and insecticides, especially if they are using aircraft for the purpose. If there is a strong wind flowing over the farm, the pesticide or insecticide can get spread unevenly, or the aircraft might even miss the target.
Workability in the Field
Farmers rely on the weather to decide when it is suitable to work in the field. The primary factors that they need to consider are soil moisture and soil temperature. Weather forecasts enable them to understand these factors accurately and plan their work schedule accordingly.
It also helps them to predict the efficiency of their work on the field on a particular day. Even though it might be difficult to estimate the exact cost implications of being able to predict the workability on the farms, it is safe to say that it has cumulative gains in terms of saving cost and improving productivity.
Accurate weather prediction has become increasingly essential for productivity for farmers. That is why most farmers rely on smart technological methods like APIs that can give them a range of data necessary for producing better quality and quantity of crops. The APIs can also provide farmers hyper-local weather data that can help them achieve their productivity and revenue goals while maximizing their profitability.
