Agricultural activities are very sen
sitive to climate and weather conditions. An agricultural decision-maker can
either be at the mercy of these natural factors or try to benefit from them. The only
way to profit from natural factors is to take
them into account and learn to know them
as well as possible. Agrometeorological
information, in practice mainly climatological data, is essential in planning agricultural production. The following decisions should not be made without knowing
climate conditions: land use and management, selecting plants and breeds of animals, and crop production practices such
as irrigation, pest and disease control and
crop-weather relationships. The specific
climate-related information needed is presented below:
Before giving recommendations about
land use it is necessary to know the environmental conditions. Parameters required
to quantify these conditions are the monthly
or 10-day-period rainfall data, solar radiation, temperature and the climatological
risks (frosts, hail etc.).
In order to select plant species or varieties, a prior agroclimatologic characterization is required. This is determined using weekly, daily and hourly temperature,
rainfall, solar radiation, evaporation, wind
speed, evapotranspiration and relative humidity.
To assess the suitability of an environment to animal production knowledge of
the effects of radiation, wind, precipitation,
temperature and relative humidity is essential.
For pest management and plant diseases the minimum weather data set required should consist of temperature and
humidity or derived parameters such as
accumulated heat or degree-days. Moisture
(relative humidity, rainfall and wetness
duration) is an essential variable in most
plant disease prediction schemes and also
for predicting outbreaks of some insect
pests.
Real time meteorological information
can also be effectively used in agricultural
production process. The timing of different activities, e.g. sowing, ploughing, fertilizing and pest and disease control, should
be done when weather conditions are most
favorable. For example the spreading of
pesticide will succeed if weather is