Lancaster Farming speaks with Koehler about AgEye Weather
Lancaster Farming spoke with Glen Koehler, an associate scientist of integrated pest management with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, for an article about AgEye Weather, a site-specific weather forecasting service developed by Koehler and now being tested by 80 New England apple growers. Koehler said orbital earth observing/weather satellites, GPS and other developing technologies are part of a complex array of devices providing farmers with location-specific data that can be used to inform irrigation, fertilizer application and as part of an integrated pest management system. Koehler takes pages of data points including apparent temperatures, wind speeds, cloud cover percentages, soil temperature and more, and inputs them into forecasting models, the article states. “We’re doing this at 80 (apple orchard) sites now. We haven’t started charging for the report; we’re still in the free trial period,” said Koehler. The service has been operational for a couple of months, and Koehler plans a public launch for the near future. He also hopes to expand the system to other fruits, vegetables, grains and more, according to the article.