Farmers are definitely interested in weather. Our job is not predicting weather, but we can tell farmers what has happened and what that means to the crops. There also are links to weather forecasts on the site. Estess said the site helps growers after the loss of Stoneville's agricultural weather information provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Bart Freeland, the weather and Geographic Information System coordinator for the center, said one advantage of the MSU data sites is that they are located in agricultural settings.
Farmers can review rainfall amounts, soil temperatures and heat unit information.
Using that data plus individual planting dates, growers can predict a plant's stages throughout the growing season. All programs require growers to verify the information with their own eyes. John Coccaro, Sharkey County Extension agent, said the web site makes it easier for farmers to get more weather details than they could before it went on-line. There were very few farmers who had constant access to that kind of weather data. This site also has a 30-year history for growers to review.