PHASE two of the Birchip Cropping Group weather radar trials will be rolled out in the next couple of months, with a lot to be learned from phase one.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Fifty weather radars were installed on farms in the Wimmera Mallee region in winter last year, and BCG CEO Chris Sounness said they are hoping to place the order for round two by late this month or early August.
”We’ve got about 38 people who have expressed interest for round two already, and we’ll wait to round that up to 50 before we place the order,” Mr Sounness said.
Watchem farmer and BCG employee Chris Colbert spearheaded the round one project, and said it was a big learning experience.
“We thought this was going to be a simple process of receiving the weather stations and putting them out into a paddock, but we had to build them, and even manufacture some of our own parts,” Mr Colbert said.
“Most of the components we’re using are tried and tested, most are farm ready, but as it is with all sorts of technology, as you add things to things, the problems begin to arise.”
He said the biggest issue has been with wildlife, and in particular birds.
“One component doesn’t like being outside 24/7, so we have had a lot of issues with dust and wildlife,” he said.
“And birds are a big problem, we’ve found that birds like to clean their beaks on the unit and that can cause issues.”
He said they would be working with researchers to make the equipment even more farm-ready.
“We’re going to work to make it more industrial, so that it can put up with animals, and be able to take a knock,” he said.
Information that is retrieved by the weather radar is sifted into a site called Data Farmer, that is accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a set of login details.
“Each farmers has their own login and password, and it’s theirs to share as they see fit,” he said.
“Anyone can get on and create their own account, and once you get on, you can request access of other farmers’ data, and they can let you see their information too.”
This is one of the positives that Murtoa farmer Paul Petering took out of being a part of round one of the project.
“My brother and dad are always calling up to see how much rain we got, now I can just give them the login details and they can go on the website themselves and get all of the information there,” Mr Petering said.
He said having always been interested in weather, it was a no-brainer to take part in the first trial.
“It was such a good opportunity to create a network that we could all refer to,” he said.
“The nearest weather station to us was at Longerenong, and that isn’t that close, so there were often big variabilities from there to home.”