Des Moines, Iowa (Dec 1, 2016)--Having precise weather data offers huge planning advances.
With fields, feedlots, and rangeland scattered over a 60-mile area centered around Albion, Nebraska, the effects of weather on the Niewohner Brothers operation can vary widely. "Particularly during the spring and fall, knowing if an area received rain or not has a big impact on scheduling fieldwork," points out Matt Niewohner. "For example, today we’ll be cutting silage in one area, drilling rye in another location, and starting corn harvest in a different field. So just knowing the rainfall amounts definitely helps us coordinate fieldwork."
Having access to field-level current weather information is also especially crucial to this operation since many of its acres are irrigated, and the land they farm can vary greatly from sand to clay soils. So scheduling irrigation according to soil-moisture levels...