For the 2018 growing season, Weather INnovations (WIN), AGRIS Co-operative Ltd, Wanstead Farmers Co-operative and Haggerty Creek Ltd. have joined forces to merge their decision support tools platforms – WeatherCentral.ca and AgGrower Dashboard – to offer more field-specific tools and expand an extensive weather station network for a wider producer audience in Ontario.
WeatherCentral.ca was launched in 2009 providing DONcast® and WHEATcast™ for wheat growers in Ontario. In 2012-2013 SPRAYcast® and BINcast® were launched to guide spray timing and grain drying for improved grain quality. Subsequently, field-specific tools for corn and soybeans, such as growth staging models, were added to guide field activity planning and made available to all Ontario grain growers.
In 2016, AGRIS, Wanstead Farmers and Haggerty Creek installed 80 automated weather stations and sponsored the AgGrower Dashboard for corn, soybean, wheat and tomato growers in their growing region of southern Ontario. The AgGrower Dashboard was funded in part by Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative, assisted by Ontario’s Agricultural Adaptation Council.
This platform’s primary focus was to provide a live weather network to help member growers with timely 4R-based decisions. These two strong platforms are merging to provide a more comprehensive 4R- focused tool kit and to expand the current weather station network across Ontario. This will offer more timely, local weather data to enhance utility of the various tools.
The new platform’s name reflects the power combination of tools and weather insights: 4Rcast.com. The new platform will be available for FREE for existing WeatherCentral and AgGrower Dashboard users. The platform’s 4R and field-level focus will ensure farmers can make timelier and prudent decisions, especially around inputs management.
“We have always enjoyed strong alignment with our co-op partners,” noted WIN President Ian Nichols. “Combining our two platforms to provide more robust decision-making and support tools for growers builds on the strength of those relationships and allows us to reach out more broadly across the province.” “Making the right decisions around the right time, the right place, the right product and the right rate are central to 4Rs success for both farmers and their retail supporters,” says Jim Campbell, General Manager of AGRIS Co-operative Limited. “4Rcast will help efficiently guide users to do the right thing for the best results.”
Signup today at 4Rcast.com to know your crops stage, know when to spray and to keep current on weather conditions. For more information on the new 4Rcast.com website and its supporting weather network, contact Weather INnovations, 1-519-352-5334 or info@weatherinnovations.com.
Weather INnovations Consulting LP(WIN) – www.weatherinnovations.com WIN specializes in providing turnkey weather based monitoring and modeling solutions for agribusinesses, producer organizations, government agencies, researchers and others. WIN makes models easy to use at the farm level by providing a connection to innovative research with site-specific applications.
AGRIS Co-operative Ltd. is a 100 percent farmer-owned grain marketing and farm-input supply company that serves more than 1,000 farmer owners in 14 locations in Essex, Kent, Elgin, Middlesex and Lambton Counties. It is a leader in precision farming
technology, seed, agronomy and petroleum services. The co-operative is a partner of Great Lakes Grain, a grain merchandising company. AGRIS Co-operative is a member-owner of GROWMARK, Inc. and markets products and services under the FS banner. Visit us at www.agris.coop
Wanstead Farmers Co-operative Ltd. is a 100 percent farmer-owned grain marketing and farm-input supply company that serves more than 700 farmer owners from its three locations in Lambton County. These locations service both Lambton and Middlesex counties. It is a leader in precision farming technology, seed and agronomy services. Wanstead Farmers Co-operative is a member-owner of GROWMARK, Inc. and markets products and services under the FS banner. Visit us at www.wansteadfarmerscoop.com
Haggerty Creek Ltd. was founded as a joint venture by Chuck and Justin Baresich with AGRIS Co- operative, serving the four counties areas of Dawn-Euphemia Township, (Lambton County), Zone Township (Kent County), Mosa Township (Middlesex County), and Aldborough Township (Elgin County), extending into parts of Brooke, Enniskillen, and Orford Townships. Visit us at www.haggertycreek.com
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