Friday, March 29, 2024

Partnership marks new era in rural weather forecasting

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A partnership between New Zealand’s leading rural publisher and a respected privately-owned weather company promises to deliver concise, timely and accurate weather information to NZ farmers and growers.
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GlobalHQ, publishers of award-winning Farmers Weekly and monthly dairying magazine Dairy Farmer, has formed a partnership with WeatherWatch to create RuralWeather, a union of two wholly NZ-owned and focused companies.

Farmers Weekly editor Bryan Gibson says the prospects for what he describes as a “meeting of rural-focused minds” are exciting for both companies and for NZ’s primary sector.

“Phil Duncan, as founder of WeatherWatch, has long been committed to helping our primary sector better understand the weather. He appreciates how much rides on the information he provides, and the critical decisions farmers and growers make with that information,” Gibson said.

Gibson says GlobalHQ has always focused on delivering readers the most accurate and insightful information possible, both in paper and digital format, with news, market analysis and weather being the three most popular content subjects farmers seek out.

“So, it makes sense to combine our talents with Phil’s for accurate weather forecasting delivered in the most personalised, timely way possible to our audience,” he said.

WeatherWatch founder Phil Duncan also adds more horsepower to GlobalHQ’s already strong analysis team in AgriHQ, recognising the role the weather has on livestock markets and bringing extra insight to subscriber reports.

Launched with its own website www.ruralweather.co.nz this month, the partnership is aiming to provide district-specific weather information that incorporates data genuinely generated from stations within those districts, rather than simply delivering approximate forecasting based on more distant weather stations. 

WeatherWatch has access to IBM’s super-computer, regarded as among the most powerful in the world for capturing, generating and presenting accurate weather data.

Plans include incorporating farm-based weather stations that feed even more localised data back into the system, effectively crowd-sourcing data for even more accurate information.

Duncan says partnering with GlobalHQ opens the door to an audience hungry for quality weather advice that is relevant to their locality, and delivered in a way that is understandable and accessible.

“We want RuralWeather to reflect the needs of farmers in regions – what is important to a farmer or grower in Otago will differ significantly from what is important to one in Waikato,” Duncan said.

“We also want to present the weather in a way that helps our audience better understand what is ‘normal’ and what is not, so their decisions are based on facts, not memory or gut feelings alone.”

Duncan says he is also excited about the prospects for the RuralWeather app, due out later this year with capacity to tailor weather alerts and personalise reports for farmers.

“You will get to set the parameters for different weather factors, with specific alerts – having fewer weather surprises hit farmers and growers is worth a lot of money to them,” he said.

Meantime, viewers and listeners on Sarah’s Country, GlobalHQ’s live and on-demand media platform, will have the opportunity to get a summary of the weather ahead every Monday from Duncan.

Duncan says thanks to MetService it is also highly likely its rain radar information will soon also be accessible to RuralWeather users. 

March 23, World Meteorological day is set as the date for the app launch.

“We are looking at delivering weather data that is sourced from the most suitable and accurate places, delivered to rural NZ in a way that is relevant to them and their particular business,” he said.

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