To encourage data-driven decision-making in agriculture, which in the long term would cut costs and improve yield efficiency, the installation of smart, movable weather stations has begun. The first weather station has been set up in Jelgava, and over the course of this year they are due to be installed in every region of Latvia, along with five stations in Lithuania and four in Estonia. The smart weather stations will provide real-time data on rainfall, wind and air temperature measurements, solar radiation, and on plant health, such as leaf wetness, canopy temperature, water balance and so on. It will also be possible to obtain data on the crop growth stage as well as soil condition – moisture, temperature and more. The weather stations will allow forecasts of high accuracy over periods of up to ten days, say the organisations behind the project – the agricultural company SIA “Linas Agro” and the seed producer SIA “Dotnuva Seeds”.
“Collecting this data will ensure both that our clients receive high-quality seed and that every farmer has the chance to access valuable data free of charge and make well-considered decisions about the best agrotechnical measures – from determining the precise timing and method of spraying plant protection products through to early risk diagnosis. These weather stations are not just a weather forecast – they are an opportunity to manage a field with maximum efficiency and the smallest possible losses,” says Mihails Vilcāns, head of “Dotnuva Seeds” in Latvia and Estonia.
Weather data – wind strength, temperature, rainfall, solar and photosynthetically active radiation, pressure, humidity, dew point temperature, along with plant health and more – will also help in planning fieldwork, avoiding the risks involved in decisions relating to crop protection.
The weather station will also warn of approaching abiotic stress – heatwaves or frost, which can adversely affect the yield and its quality. Information on plant health – the chlorophyll index, the level of heat stress, leaf wetness, the normalised difference vegetation index – will give forecasts of the recommended timing for applying plant protection products and make it possible to predict the crop yield, its volume and quality, as well as helping to head off the risk of plant diseases developing. Data on soil health – moisture, salinity, temperature, the amount of water used to complete each particular stage of crop development – will help identify risks associated with the water regime in both plants and soil, and will reduce the risk of poor germination, making it easier to plan soil cultivation according to its condition, among other things.
The weather stations will be placed in trial fields growing a range of crops, including wheat, barley, rye, oilseed rape, potatoes, beans, peas, maize and others. The results from the monitoring system will be available free of charge on the company's website, where information on the latest measurements will be updated regularly (this year in the Jelgava area, but from next year in every region), offering both historical and real-time data. This is a chance to limit or prevent the spread of plant diseases in good time, to choose the most suitable plant protection products and the right moment to spray them, and to forecast yield volumes while ensuring the crop develops successfully.
The smart stations are fitted with high-precision sensors, an ultrasonic anemometer, a narrowband spectrometer, an acoustic disdrometer, a high-resolution camera and more, in order to obtain accurate real-time data. The data gathered is processed using artificial intelligence to forecast, for example, the best time to harvest a crop or to plant a new one.