Agriculture Victoria has announced improvements to the Soil Moisture Monitoring Program as it continues to support farm businesses impacted by drought and dry seasonal conditions.
The new Agriculture Victoria soil moisture monitoring website, shows data from the 36 Agriculture Victoria soil moisture probe sites (17 crop and 19 pasture) across various locations and agricultural industries.
The Agriculture Victoria website allows easy access to soil moisture probe sites that are located across the state on both cropping and pasture farming systems.
The program has been running since 2011 and is highly valued by users:
- 90 per cent of survey participants agree that the program has improved their knowledge and understanding of deep stored soil moisture, and
- 86 per cent agree that the program has improved their ability to make decisions to manage seasonal risk.
Soil moisture information informs seasonal risk decision making across numerous agricultural industries in Victoria. It takes the guesswork out of the seasonal conditions and assists with estimating crop yield potential, pasture growth rates and response to fertilisers.
By adding this crucial dimension to measuring what is going on under the surface, farmers have access to information that is valuable in dry seasons. But the data is equally well utilised in average and wet years as well (as a guide for input decisions).
The overall soil moisture Speedo (right) is now automated so visitors to the website will see an up-to-date image for each of the soil moisture probe sites.
This new site builds on this foundation to provide a modern platform for data interpretation, including:
- Better user experience, including increased accessibility
- Innovative tools and graphs that are accurate, live and easy to use.
- More detailed information about each site’s history.
The improvements will also enable more farmers to see the ‘Speedo soil moisture graphs’ daily which are a real time soil moisture percentage measure. These graphs are an important tool for farmers experiencing variable rainfall to make timely decisions.
The new platform is also in line with user feedback provided through the Ag Vic soil moisture monitoring surveys.
Agriculture Victoria Seasonal Risk Agronomist, Dale Boyd, recently presented the new site as part of the Climate Webinar series, with the presentation articulating how to read each of the graphs and how that can be applied in the field.
Access the recording to the ‘Navigating the new Agriculture Victoria soil moisture monitoring website’ through the link.
You can subscribe to the Agriculture Victoria Soil Moisture Monitoring e-newsletter to get further information and analysis of data.
Further Information
For more information about the Agriculture Victoria Soil Moisture Monitoring project please email us at [email protected].
