Implementing Remote Weather Monitoring
“To me, having remote monitoring available through INCYT is one of those things that makes life a bit easier in quite a few different ways.” Matthew Flagg, Moombooldool, NSW.
The Flagg family’s farming operation is spread out over 20 kilometers around Moombooldool, while Matt Flagg lives in nearby Griffith. Not knowing whether it had rained on a specific part of the operation or not, or what the current weather conditions were, made it harder for Matt to perform in-field operations without wasting time driving to and from the farm.
Keen to implement a remote weather monitoring solution to overcome this challenge, Matt found out about INCYT and decided to install INCYT weather stations and rain gauges across his operation.
With digital weather stations and rain gauges installed on the different blocks he farms, Matt now always has access to rainfall and weather data - wherever he is. Instead of driving to the farm to spray a field, only to find out the weather wouldn’t allow it when he got there, Matt is now able to plan his day according to the local weather conditions before leaving home.
Managing a Geographically-Spread Operation
Matt Flagg is a third generation farmer based at Moombooldool, NSW, running a dryland sheep and cropping operation together with his brothers after joining the family farming operation in 2010. Moombooldool, in the central north of the Riverina, has fertile alluvial red soils with an average annual rainfall of about 425mm. The Flagg family produces sheep as well as a mix of dryland crops such as wheat, barley and canola. The farm is divided into 3 separate blocks, with approximately 10 kilometres distance between each block, while Matt and his family live in Griffith - over 60 kilometres away from the farm.
It is this distance from home to the farm, and then the distance between the blocks, that was making it hard for Matt to know exactly what was going on at the farm at all times he says: “Knowing what is happening at the different blocks from a weather and rainfall perspective is something we were missing; from my kitchen table 60 kilometres away I really had no idea whether the conditions were right for some summer-fallow spraying or harvesting for example. The only way to find out was to drive out to the farm and have a look at the conditions in real-time. This meant that sometimes I would drive out
there only to find out that the conditions weren’t right.”
“And it’s not just about knowing the weather conditions on our home block; with the next block 10 kilometres away and another one a further 10 kilometres, there can be quite pronounced differences between the blocks as well. So even going to our home block to get the spray rig ready and mix up a batch of chemical and take it over to one of the other blocks can be risky if you don’t know the exact conditions at the other block; you might not be able to spray at all and then you’re stuck with a load of chemical that you can’t just let sit in the tank for an extended period of time.”
Implementing Remote Monitoring
When Matt decided to implement remote monitoring, it coincided with the first round of the Australian Federal Government’s On Farm Connectivity Program, which provided him with a 50% discount on all in-field monitoring solutions. After looking at the different options available, Matt decided to implement INCYT’s rain gauges and weather stations on all three of his blocks.
Matt explains: “We installed the INCYT equipment ourselves and it ended up being really easy - once you’ve installed one sensor and have wrapped your head around how they work, the rest is easy. The hardest part was probably climbing up and down the big grain silo where we installed one of the base stations on top of!”
“We weren’t sure whether we needed two or three base stations, but the one that we installed on top of the grain silo at our home farm ended up creating plenty of reach over tree lines etc. due to the height at which it is installed and so the block that is only 10 kilometers away is using the same base station. Before the installation we had a couple of questions, but one of the members of the INCYT team came out to see us and explained it all, and after that it was all pretty simple really.”
Information at the Fingertips
Now that rain gauges and weather stations are installed across the farming operation, it has become effortless for Matt, his family members, and their employees to see exactly what the local conditions are on each part of the farm according to Matt: “Just as an example: If I now wake up at 3AM to go spraying, I can immediately see whether conditions are suitable. If not, then at least I can go straight back to sleep, which is much better than having to drive all the way out to the farm to realise this. Of course there are always other jobs to be done on the farm, but it’s nice to be able to avoid 3AM starts unless they’re really necessary for spraying or something else.”
Matt continues: “The other important aspect for us in using INCYT’s weather stations and rain gauges is what you can call the ‘curiosity factor’; because we live away from the farm it is just nice to be able to see real-time what’s happening on the farm and how much rain we have had (or haven’t). We all have INCYT installed on our phones or tablets and we’re all able to have a look at it whenever we want to. To me having remote monitoring available through INCYT is one of those things that makes life a bit easier in quite a few different ways. I’m sure there is other equipment that we could implement on the farm as well, but this for us was the ‘low hanging fruit’ that now helps us every day.”