The Combined Location Online Weather Data (CLOWD) apps for both computer and mobile phones enable growers to analyse recent and historic weather for any location in Australia at the touch of a map.
It is part of a Food Agility CRC collaborative research project with Charles Sturt University, SunRice and AgriFutures Australia.
The data used by the apps is from publicly available sites such as the Queensland ‘long paddock’ historical climate data.
“Our goal for CLOWD is to provide farmers and growers with targeted weather analysis in a form they can use wherever they are,” researcher Darren Yates
“What we have done is make the data more accessible, and we’re working with industry partner SunRice to test it with farmers.
“There’s a wealth of historical weather data available but it’s difficult for farmers to access for their locations, as you often need to know the precise latitude and longitude for your farm.
“We developed a web-based app whereby a farmer can click on a map to bring up historical and recent data, but it also has data such as cumulative rainfall and growing degree days which are extra features that farmers can use to help make better crop and pasture management decisions.”
He said the idea for CLOWD came from a discussion with another Charles Sturt PhD student Allister Clarke who developed the machine-learning model that predicts rice/whole grain yield using rice phenology (growth stage) data and weather data.
The researchers examined the Queensland Department of Environment and Science service called SILO (Scientific Information for Land Owners), a weather database for Australia dating back to 1889 which records temperature, rainfall, humidity and a range of other daily observations from weather stations around the country.
While some SILO weather data is interpolated (meaning it is derived mathematically from results of surrounding locations), interpolated data can still hold value for the farming community.
“One parameter that SILO doesn’t provide is ‘growing degree-days’, which is like a heat-odometer for plants – it’s a temperature-based mathematical calculation and that was the start of what became CLOWD,” Dr Yates said.
“But we also realised there was potential for CLOWD beyond rice, as GDD is calculated differently for different crops; rice is the default crop setting for CLOWD, but the user can custom-select from a range of crops, including barley, peanuts, wheat, cotton, fruits and more.
“From there, one idea led to another; we started with creating analysis and comparison of the current season’s weather observations against other seasons or a rolling five-year average.
“However, because a number of the measurements can be cumulative (such as rainfall and GDD), we added the ability to ‘zero’ or start that analysis from any calendar date ─ the growing season rarely starts on the first of January.”
Dr Yates said because not everyone was good with charts, they included the option to turn the charts into plain-English text using a software concept called ‘natural language generation’.
“That led to another feature that combines the analysis charts and text into a summary PDF report users can create on-demand on their device,” he said.
“Then, as some crops, such as rice, can be adversely affected by cooler temperatures, we added an auto-alert system that warns the user the next time they use the app.
CLOWD is free to use and requires no sign-up.
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