Reckoning the Sheaves
A new company that aims to provide improved forecasting
of crop conditions and yields is getting a hand from the University
of Kansas.
The company, Agrimetrix, was founded in April. It is
using massaged satellite data related to crop and other vegetation changes
supplied to it by the KU-based Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program,
or KARS.
For several years, KARS has been publishing the GreenReport
each week. The report is a series of U.S. maps color-coded to reflect
crop and vegetation conditions.
They show how green -- or lushly vegetated -- any spot
in the United States is relative to the 10-year average for that spot;
relative to the same week in the previous year; and relative to the
previous week, said Ed Martinko, director of KARS.
Thus,
the GreenReport provides advance warning of where crops are likely to
do well and where they're in trouble.
Agrimetrix, founded in April, is a partnership that
includes Strategic Weather Services, based in Wayne, Pa.; Farm Journal,
an agricultural marketing services company that publishes Farm Journal
magazine and four other journals, as well as providing TV, radio and
Internet information services; and Terrametrics, a Lawrence-based firm
that markets and distributes the GreenReport.
"When our crop models are used in conjunction with Strategic
Weather's historic weather models, we will be able to provide an advanced
picture of conditions and yields," Martinko said.
Several kinds of business will benefit from Agrimetrix
forecasts, Martinko said.
"Crop insurance industries will be able to anticipate
and manage risk if troubled areas are identified early," Martinko said.
"Agricultural chemical companies will be able to learn
where to move product. Grain storage and transportation concerns will
be able to plan; and, as crop conditions are monitored, commodity traders
can adjust their purchases throughout the season.
"A major aspect of our venture will be to work directly
with each company to develop and deliver the specific information they
think is important in their decision-making."
