A catalyst for adaptation, advancement and innovation within the agriculture and agri-food community.
NEWS RELEASES - 2004
Ontario Weather Network Provides
Enhanced Services to Producers
No one can do anything about the weather but accurate, reliable weather
recording is an essential tool for Ontario’s agricultural industry.
Based at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown College, the Ontario Weather
Network (OWN) provides weather-based agronomic services to more than 40
agencies, companies, institutions, producer groups and other clients.
As well as a variety of other weather information sources, OWN routinely gathers
data from their recently upgraded monitoring stations in Essex, Chatham-Kent,
Lambton and Michigan. The stations record weather conditions and the effects of
weather on wheat, tomato, sugar beet, onion, corn, carrot, apple, grape,
crucifer crops and landscape plants.
OWN also provides disease-warning programs that help to predict the onset of
weather-related crop diseases. By informing producers when they can time their
spray applications according to the weather, producers can often reduce the
number of applications, thereby saving them time and money. Reducing fungicide
applications also helps to maintain the quality of the soil and preserve the
environment.
Regional disease warning programs cover southern Ontario and parts of Michigan.
OWN also provides customized reports that focus on specific areas of farmland.
Wheat producers use the DONcast program to help them predict the onset of the
disease fusarium. TomCast helps processing tomato producers determine when to
apply fungicide control products. BeetCast is used by Ontario and Michigan sugar
beet growers to time fungicide sprays for Cercospora Leafspot.
The OWN web site at www.ownweb.ca
features regional Geographic Information System (GIS) colour coded maps that
include weather and crop disease information for wheat, tomato and sugar beet
crops. This information is valuable to producers, marketers, agribusiness supply
firms, crop consultants and chemical companies.
With support from the Canada-Ontario Research and Development (C-ORD) Program,
the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board, the Ontario Processing Vegetable
Growers and the University of Guelph, OWN recently upgraded its disease warning
advisory programs. Wheat and processing tomato producers can now customize the
DONcast and TomCast programs to meet their specific needs.
“Producers can input information such as plant variety, planting date, soil
type, crop conditions including diseases and insects, soil and crop treatments,
and site-specific weather conditions,” said Ron Pitblado of the University of
Guelph’s Ridgetown College. “At this level of interpretation, producers have
much more management control and the program can become a very comprehensive
guide for cropping decisions.”
“Fusarium forecasts are also more accessible to wheat producers on the new web
site,” said Larry Shapton, General Manager of the Ontario Wheat Producers’
Marketing Board.
To increase the accuracy of its disease warning programs, OWN continues to
enlist producers and other stakeholders to record and report data such as local
rainfall and temperature measurements.
Support from another C-ORD Program project also helped OWN to upgrade its
interactive web site.
“The sheer volume of information we now generate and the increase in the number
of users due to our enhanced services dictated a change of database,” said Ian
Nichols, OWN Business Manager. “The new software was specifically designed for
web applications whereas the previous one was not.”
“These enhancements to OWN’s services will be of great benefit to producers and
the entire agri-food industry,” said Bob Bedggood, Chair of the Agricultural
Adaptation Council. “The environment will also benefit with reduced fungicide
applications.”
Now completed, the C-ORD Program was initiated in 1996 to improve the
competitiveness of Ontario’s agri-food sector and increase its diversity and
self-reliance through applied research and development. The C-ORD Program is
funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food through an Agricultural Safety Net provision for research.
The Agricultural Adaptation Council is a non-profit coalition of 58 Ontario
agricultural, agri-food and rural organizations that administers the C-ORD
Program on behalf of the Ontario Agricultural Commodity Council.
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For more information please contact:
Nadine Buitenhuis
Communications Coordinator
Agricultural Adaptation Council
192 Nicklin Road
Guelph, ON N1H 7L5
Phone: 519-822-7554
Fax: 519-822-6248
Nadine's e-mail
