Monsanto and The Weather Channel Upgrade Farmer’s Forecast
March 1, 2011 With a new growing season fast approaching, Monsanto Company and The Weather Channel continue to enhance Farmers’ Forecast (www.weather.com/farming), adding an Hourly Forecast and TruPoint Radar Mapping to the site’s capabilities for 2011. The two new features will be available in March just as farmers across the country begin to take to the fields.
“Even with the continuous advancement in seed technology, farmers still rely on the weather as much, or more than anyone to help make the best business decisions possible,” said Scott Rismiller, Interactive Marketing Lead for Monsanto. “At Monsanto we place a high value in providing farmers with as many tools as possible to help increase their success and productivity.”
The first addition to Farmers’ Forecast will be Hourly Forecasts. This feature will appear in the sub-navigation bar next to 36-Hour Forecast, 10-Day Forecast and Almanac. Once a user selects the tab, they will see an hourly forecast in three-hour increments.
“Weather can change quickly, especially during key parts of the growing season,” said Jonathan Erdman, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel. “Providing farmers with as much detail as possible using hourly forecasts can go a long way in helping farmers efficiently plan their day.”
Additionally, a new map tab on Farmers’ Forecast will allow farmers to use the TruPoint patented technology from The Weather Channel that provides detailed weather conditions accurate up to 1.5 miles to track and project weather specific to their farm. By navigating to the Map page within Farmers’ Forecast, and upon clicking the large radar map image, farmers can enter their farm location to see animated current weather conditions along with animated forecasts for the next six hours.
Both features are scheduled to be available on www.weather.com/farming sometime in March.
Since its launch in 2009, Farmers’ Forecast has grown its unique visitors each month, and the addition of SMS text weather alerts in 2010 attracted additional subscribers from the agricultural community. The site contains weather data and forecasts customized by ZIP code that are essential to the daily activities of farmers.
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