Agriculture

WPC Agricultural Weather Solutions

Those that manage Agricultural Risk must account for weather hazards and their impacts on national and global food supply. To provide superior Ag-Weather intelligence, WPC draws from expertise in cutting edge remote sensing techniques, Superensemble™ forecasting, and multi-source precipitation histories. When integrating information sources to create client solutions, WPC uses clear interfaces that make it easy to extract critical weather information.

Remote Sensing Analyses of Surface Wetness and Temperature

Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) temperature, wetness, and snow cover measurements are available for all global crop regions. Since these products are derived from microwave sensors, they are available under nearly all sky conditions. Importantly, objective SSMI techniques can diagnose surface wetness regardless of its origin (irrigation vs. precipitation). Based on a twenty year historical database with 30km resolution, SSMI information is ideally suited for yield forecast applications, and for providing visual evidence of domestic and international crop conditions.

Global Precipitation and Temperature Histories

WPC combines multiple precipitation sources to enhance coverage and precision. Recent historical temperatures and precipitation amounts are available for season-to-date and user-specified time periods. One can use this information to identify and track developing problems, such as:

• onset of drought,
• over saturation,
• prolonged excessive heat, and
• freeze conditions.

Superensemble™ Forecasts of Temperature and Precipitation

• Average, Maximum and Minimum Temperatures are available for individual days or 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15 day periods.
• Crop stress forecasts target areas that will experience critical levels of heat or cold.
• Precipitation forecasts are generated for days 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15.
• Long range outlooks for precipitation and temperature are provided, along with expert meteorological analysis.

Aggregation of critical weather information, in multi-layer format

• WPC keeps multiple years of precipitation data available on its web portal, permitting season to season comparisons.
• WPC weather data are available at crop district levels for use in yield and production models, and for direct comparison to spatially aggregated crop information.
• All weather information can be viewed on a map, with detailed high-resolution weather information available at the click of a button.

Flexibility

• WPC currently produces web-based services for most global agricultural regions. Our global forecasting and weather history datasets allow us to add new regions upon request.
• Information is available for small geographic areas, such as Crop Reporting Districts from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), US counties, European NUTS regions, or user defined divisions.

Support and Collaboration

• WPC provides customer support and forecast interpretation during business and commodity trading hours.
• WPC scientists perform consulting projects to produce forecasts and analyses that add additional value to crop insurers and commodity suppliers.